


The Big Fat Lie

by FerretInTheRoom



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Canon Compliant, F/F, Post Season 5, Slow Burn, They are oblivious and in-denial
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-13
Updated: 2020-11-02
Packaged: 2021-03-07 16:35:07
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 26,751
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26990737
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FerretInTheRoom/pseuds/FerretInTheRoom
Summary: A young patient at the Luthor Family Children Hospital has a request for a certain Super and Luthor.
Relationships: Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor
Comments: 66
Kudos: 289





	1. The Wish

**Author's Note:**

> This is super slow burn, please consider yourself warned.
> 
> I confess that while i'm trying to make this canon compliant, there might be misses (as i have not actually seen every episode of Supergirl).

“Lena…” Kara called softly as the group started dispersing to the door. The woman in question paused and turned around, coat tucked neatly in the crook of her arm. Kara didn’t miss that Alex was behind the other woman, lingering in the foyer. Kara watched out of the corner of her eye as Kelly leaned into her girlfriend’s ear. The superhero supposed the whispering was more for Lena’s benefit as she still heard the words _‘They’ll be fine, let’s go.’_

Alex blinked owlishly as several emotions flitted past her face in rapid succession before settling on one Kara could only describe as abject resignation. She gave Kara an awkward nod before allowing herself to be unceremoniously dragged out of the apartment by Kelly.

“…is it a good sign that you waited until everyone left to continue that thought?” Lena asked, the corners of her mouth quirked upwards. Despite the half-smile on the young CEO’s face, Kara could tell she was nervous.

“They didn’t have to leave,” Kara chuckled. “I’m not sure why they did.” She paused, eyebrows furrowed as she considered a new line of thought. “What would be a good reason that I didn’t want the others to hear?”

Lena looked momentarily taken aback and for a split-second Kara could have sworn the ear peaking out from the the shorter woman's hair was turning an odd color.

“I mean, William still doesn’t know about your identity, right?” Lena smoothly recovered. Kara had a slight suspicion the other wasn’t being completely honest given who the last people to leave were, but she decided to keep the teasing to a minimum.

It had been several months since they took Lena’s brother down. Several months of painfully trying to restore their friendship to what it once was before the Big Fat Lie. And it was better – it really was. But they’d both be lying if they said their relationship was anywhere close to normal. Even what existed felt horribly tenuous, as if the slightest puff of air would cause it to break into permanent disrepair. And Kara was not about to test that with an ill-timed joke.

“Well, you’re not completely wrong,” Kara interjected, giving her a small smile. “I promised Supergirl would make an appearance at the children’s hospital, didn’t I?”

Lena looked visibly relieved. “That’s right…for Lily.”

Lily, a young girl who was turning 9 tomorrow, had been fighting an aggressive form of brain cancer. Her attitude towards the diagnosis and her efforts to cheer the other wards at the Luthor Children’s Hospital had warmed even the most cold-hearted people in the city. It was little surprise that she had caught the attention of a certain philanthropist CEO.

“Her surgery is next week?”

Lena nodded as she slipped on her coat. “Yes, and I have every confidence it will go well. The doctors on her case have significant experience with medulloblastoma. But there is always the ever real chance of complications…of problems…”

“And that’s why you had your favorite reporter conduct an interview to find out if she had any regrets before she went in.” Kara felt her breathing get shallow – she shouldn’t have added in that quip about ‘favorite reporter’ after everything. It was too soon and now Lena had every chance (and right, if Kara’s being honest) to put the superhero back in line. Not without Kara getting a tad bit hurt though.

But to Kara’s surprise (and relief), Lena didn’t protest the claim. Instead, her eyes crinkled as she finally met Kara’s eyes for the first time all night, smiling shyly. “I can’t say I’m surprised that her big wish before the surgery was to meet this city’s biggest hero.”

Kara blinked rapidly as she could feel her cheeks start to heat up at the compliment. “Her wish was for the _both_ of us to meet her. Together, Lena.” she groaned, embarrassed. “You do so much good for this city…for this world, you really shouldn’t downplay the magnitude of your impact.”

Lena looked away, eyebrows arching upwards. “Yeah well…” Kara’s heart broke as she could guess the implicit meaning behind the words left unsaid. _A few months ago, I almost destroyed it._

If it would help, Kara would shake Lena and badger her with as many words of endearment as necessary to convince the Luthor otherwise. But Kara suspected it would only make things worse.

Lena shook her head. “Let’s meet in the hospital if you don’t mind – I don’t want Lily to feel like L-Corp is using her for a favorable press release.”

Kara frowned as she reached out and grabbed the woman’s wrist.

“Hey…that’s not true. _You’re_ her hero, Lena. She’d never think that.” She stared at Lena sharply, letting the silence extend until the other woman was forced to finally look back up at her. The amount of vulnerability in her eyes took Kara by surprise and she found herself temporarily lost for words as she stared into emerald pools.

“We both know I don’t deserve it Kara.” The words were spoken quietly and as a matter of fact. The tone warned that the CEO was in no mood to argue the point.

“What do I have to do to make you see that it’s not true?” Kara murmured softly. Some time passed as both women stared at each other in silence until Lena broke the moment by glancing down.

“So…this is new.” Kara blinked as she tilted her gaze downward. Somehow Kara’s original hold on the other’s wrist had morphed into the superhero holding onto the brunette’s hand for dear life.

“Sorry!” Kara squeaked, dropping the hand like it was on fire. She could feel her face start to burn in embarrassment. Even when they had been at their closest, they had never been the type of friends to hold hands and sing kumbaya. Even after months, Kara still hadn’t worked up the courage to try and hug her. Rao, this alone was the first game night Lena had been to since the Big Fat Lie.

Lena grinned at her slyly. “I must say, I have a strict policy of dinner before any illicit hand-holding.”

Kara flushed and felt her mouth drop open as her expression morphed into incredulity. “That’s a low blow Lena. I was being sincere!”

Mood sufficiently lightened (even if that was definitely a topic Kara wanted to revisit at a later day), Lena laughed as she swirled on her heels and made for the door. She held up a hand in farewell. “Good _night_ Kara. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

It wasn’t until hours later, as Kara was suitably buried into her covers and drifting off into sleep, that she realized:

  * Lena had cracked a joke for the first time since the Big Fat Lie.
  * Maybe their friendship wasn’t as tenuous as she first thought.




	2. The Ward

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Much longer than the preface that was the first chapter and should have technically been a bit longer, but i'm falling asleep

Lena was standing in the lobby, leaning casually against a wall as she surveyed her surroundings. The hospital was bustling mid-afternoon, but not particularly crazy. The open layout and sun filtering in through the many windows should have soothed her stress levels, but she instead found herself tapping her foot impatiently as she waited for the Super to arrive. 

Surprisingly, the stars had aligned; her meetings ran like a well-oiled machine and with a startling lack of traffic, Lena found herself at the hospital early. 12 minutes, a quick glance down at her watch told her.

Those 12 minutes should have been spent drafting new proposals on rebranding this world’s L-Corp, juggling the financials, keeping the investors happy, outlining her next pet project...

Instead, probably because of her pending meet up with the girl wonder, all she could think back to was yesterday’s disaster. The woman let out a huff of annoyance. Lena – for a lack of better word – had been feeling _odd_ these past few months. And her _feeling_ odd had led to her making uncharacteristically odd, perhaps wholly inappropriate, comments to National City’s hometown hero.

Kara had been distant since the truce they had formed to take down Lex. There was a certain gap that prevented them from returning to normal and Lena, for all her genius-intellect, couldn’t figure out why the other woman was so reluctant to take that leap of faith.

But their broken friendship was as much Lena’s fault as it was Kara’s (probably more so Lena’s if she’s being honest). Due to…. circumstances, Lena had indubitably overreacted to her friend’s secret identity and turned what should have been a minor crack in their friendship into an abyss with almost no way out.

But through sheer necessity and guilt (mostly guilt), Lena found herself laying her heart near bare on her sleeve. And coupled with Kara’s naturally forgiving nature… well, they had managed to all but close the gulf in the chasm. Almost.

But for that gap.

And so, Lena had tried. She tried making jokes…she tried to tease. But human relationships had always been something she was particularly poor at it. A dysfunctional family, ulterior-motive driven friendships…she had absolutely no _genuine experiences_ to pull from. She had even considered watching crappy daytime TV if it’d help her figure out the best way to get back to normal terms with Kara.

Because Kara had always been the human element in their friendship.

The one putting herself out there when Lena had been, at least initially, coolly indifferent to anything but a professional relationship. The one who first invited her to game nights, who all but inserted herself into the life of a CEO who was – for lack of better word – a hermit (sans the required company meetings). Kara had always been the one with food, the one with quips and the one who all but stole her heart in the way only a true friendship could.

So… given the role that Lena had played in their friendship becoming an acquaintanceship, Lena had _tried._ But even she was only good at being rebuffed for so long, and 3 months was a long time for someone to try and fail at something. _Particularly_ long for someone who was not used to failing at all, let alone the dozens of times that stemmed from her current predicament.

She felt her pulse quicken and her cheeks flush as she closed her eyes and drifted back to last night.

_“…is it a good sign that you waited until everyone left to continue that thought?” Lena joked, fixing Kara with a sly smile._

_But the teasing nature of the comment apparently flew over the older woman’s head because Kara soon fixed her with a curious look._

_“They didn’t have to leave…” Kara chuckled as she trailed off. “I’m not sure why they did.” Her expression turned pensive as she thought back to Lena’s previous words._

_“What would be a good reason that I didn’t want the others to hear?”_

_Lena could have literally died out of embarrassment. If she had to explain that she was teasing about sultry motives, Kara might actually think she was serious… Lena found herself taken aback. Was this not what friends joked about?_

_But Lena Luthor was a Mensa-certified genius for a reason and came up with an almost instantaneous response._

_“I mean, William still doesn’t know about your secret identity, right?”_

God, she had been so mortified. Thankfully, Kara had bought her dullard reply…or at least pretended to. And so, with that final nail in the coffin, Lena had resolved to give up. There were only so many times Lena was willing to put herself out there and fail, and this last attempt had failed so spectacularly that she half-questioned if Kara might start avoiding her altogether.

Lena pushed away the sickening pit in her stomach.

Well, she _had_ resolved to give up. But Lena had been unable to help herself last night and took one last shot which Kara had kindly set up _oh so well_ by herself.

_“So…this is new.”_

And for the first time in 57.5 attempts (the half attempt was a long story), Lena had hit the bullseye.

Lena could feel the corners of her lips start to twitch upwards. Because when good things come, they come in spades. And Lena hit the bullseye once more in her next attempt.

_“I must say, I have a strict policy of dinner before any illicit hand holding.”_

Lena had to admit it – the flustered look on Kara’s face when she _finally got it_ was worth every single one of those miserable, failed attempts. Because in that moment, if for only a moment, it was like they were back to normal. Better than normal even. The euphoric feeling at having finally, _finally_ succeeded was…

“Well someone’s in a good mood.”

Lena hummed in response, still not opening her eyes. “You would be too, if you finally succeeded in something you’d been failing at for three months.”

There was a pregnant pause.

“You’ve actually _failed_ at something? Like… _repeatedly?_ ”

Lena’s eyes shot open and she found herself looking up at one confused looking Supergirl.

_Oh shit._

“I…” for once, Lena was at a loss for words.

“Not only _once_ but for _three months?_ ”

The gears in Lena’s mind were turning quickly. She had absolutely nothing to counter with, absolutely –

“It’s just a pet project that I’ve been working on,” Lena blurted out, nervously tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

“For _three months_?” Kara’s eyebrows were so high they had practically disappeared into her bangs. “The only thing I’ve known you to work on that long was… well…”

Lena faltered. The failed Q-wave project.

“It’s not something I’ve been able to commit to as much as I would like.” Lena responded, honestly.

Not that she would have been able to work at Kara all day and night like one of her…realizing where that line of thought was going, Lena felt herself heat up.

_What the hell. Get ahold of yourself Luthor._

“Okay…” Kara drawled, giving her a side eye. Lena was quite sure Kara didn’t believe her, but the young CEO was not about to give the other woman the 411 on her master plan to get back in her good graces.

Shaking herself out of _whatever that was_ , Lena tugged Supergirl’s sleeve as she trekked towards the spiral staircase in the middle of the lobby. “Come on, she’s on the second floor.”

“You know I just interviewed her a few days ago, right? I have an eidetic memory. I’m not going to forget her room number.”

Lena could practically hear the smugness in Supergirl’s voice.

“Oh really – are you moonlighting as a reporter now, Supergirl?” Lena glanced over her shoulder at a startled looking Super before giving her a small smirk. “Should Kara Danvers be worried about the competition?”

“ _Lena_ ,” the superhero practically whined. It was an odd sight – the mergence of Kara and Supergirl. “You’re not playing fair.”

Lena chuckled, “Since when do Luthors play fair?”

* * *

Kara found herself willingly dragged to the doorway of Room 242, as Lena carefully knocked on the door to garner Lily’s attention.

“Lily?” The young CEO peered over at a small, auburn-haired girl grinning peevishly up at the two women standing in the corridor.

“LENA LUTHOR!” she squealed, bolting from her bed covers and dragging her IV with her. Lena didn’t have so much time as to let out a strangled, _yes_? before the girl had wrapped her in a tight hug.

“Imsoxfighteddoseeyou,” came the gargled reply from the girl, still buried in Lena’s suit.

Lena glanced at Kara in alarm, shaking her head as she mouthed, _What am I supposed to do?_

Kara was chortling under her breath as she found herself staring at the Luthor who was growing increasingly more alarmed. Kara could almost read her thoughts – _Is this kid going to suffocate herself?_

Finally taking pity on the other woman, Kara gestured…. _Well, hug her back first of all._

Lena didn’t seem to get the memo though as Kara watched the younger woman gently extricate herself from the young ward. Kara noted in amusement that Lena had surreptitiously checked to make sure there was no lasting harm done to the overexcited elementary-aged kid from lack of oxygen.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t catch that?” Lena gave her a small smile as she stared down at the smaller person, unsure of how to handle the situation.

If Lily noticed the CEO’s awkwardness, she didn’t let on. “I’m so sorry, I’m just _so_ excited to see you.”

“Well, _we_ ,” Kara finally decided to take pity on Lena and jump in. “Are just so excited to meet you too.”

The girl’s head whipped around to focus on Kara.

“SUPERGIRL!” she yelped, dashing over and wrapping the blonde woman in another hug. For show, Kara pretended to take a step back from the force of impact.

“Whoa there, Superwoman, you’re a strong one. It might be you in this cape someday,” Kara laughed, patting the girl’s head gently. Lily looked up, beaming at her.

“Dr. Janet always says I’m a trooper,” she said proudly, giving Kara a toothy grin.

Kara smiled, squatting down so she could look Lily in the eye. “Well, with strength like that, I’m not surprised in the slightest. You remind me a lot of my friend Lena,” she said, looking up at the startled woman with a twinkle in her eye. “Lena’s one of the strongest people I know.”

The brunette’s eyes went wide, and she uncharacteristically seemed at a loss for words. “But you can lift a truck!” Lily said loudly, lifting her free arm to emphasize the brilliance of the ability.

Kara chuckled. “I can lift a lot of trucks. But sometimes there’s strength here,” Kara prodded her own arm. “And sometimes there’s strength here,” Kara intoned gently, lightly tapping the capricious girl in the forehead with just enough force to send her stumbling back a couple of steps.

Out of the corner of her eye, Kara could see Lena had turn away. Kara frowned. Had she somehow upset her friend?

Unfortunately, Kara didn’t have much time to contemplate Lena’s reaction because Lily had whirled around and careened back into her room dragging a rather vacant looking Luthor blearily behind her. Kara followed closely behind, not wanting to miss any further interactions between the Luthor and the rather rambunctious 9-year old.

“This really is the absolute best birthday ever,” Lily cheered, steering Lena towards her bed and gesturing for the older woman to sit. Once Lena had mutely complied, the girl happily jumped up next to her talking a mile a minute about her friends in the ward and how _absolutely excited_ they’d be to see both Supergirl and _the_ Lena Luthor. And then – to both women’s surprise in the room – the girl starts going off about the latest and greatest innovations from L-Corp.

It took Lena a second to warm up, but once she realized that the 9-year old more or less spoke her language, all traces of previous awkwardness vanished and the two of them spoke so animatedly that Kara found herself feeling…well…feeling almost _jealous_.

But that was ridiculous, she couldn’t be jealous of a 9-year old.

And it wasn’t because the young girl had a clear favorite between the Super and the Luthor.

But the 9-year old that was animatedly playing with Lena’s hair. Hugging her every few minutes. Wait…was she trying to sit in her lap?

“Okay, how about we see if you can fly,” Kara interjected, interrupting some random discussion on quantum entanglement. Kara could see the confusion on Lena’s face in her peripheral vision, but the superhero refused to meet Lena’s questioning gaze.

Thankfully for Kara, Lily’s eyes had widened to the size of impossible saucers as her mentality once again reverted back to that of a typical elementary school kid.

“No. Way,” she practically yelled, lifting her arms in what Kara could only describe as the universal _up, up_ movement.

Laughing, Kara floated upwards while lifting the girl, IV stand and all. Lily was positively besides herself. Kara entertained Lily in the air for a few minutes, letting the girl enjoy the feeling of weightlessness before gently landing back on the ground.

“You will have to show the other kids on the floor too,” Lily gushed, hands making grand gestures in the air.

Kara laughed easily, “Of course, of course. Anything.”

Lily beamed up at the Super while grabbing Lena’s hand in her two small ones. Kara felt her smile waver as she watched the movement. Unfortunately for her, that also meant that she had looked over at the one person the Super had pointedly spent the last ten minutes ignoring. Green eyes were boring into her own and Kara was starting to grow increasingly uncomfortable at the underlying question swimming in those eyes.

This was a situation that she could not have envisioned.

Thankfully, she was saved by the source of her jealousy.

“I really need to thank the Cat girl,” the girl quipped, staring at Lena.

This caught Lena’s attention, and she looked over at Kara with a wicked glint in her eyes.

 _Uh-oh._ Whatever Lena was up to…

“Cat girl?” Lena was trying to smother a grin that practically extended ear to ear and Kara could have just left right then and there if not for that blasted promise.

“Yeah, Cat girl was such a nice lady. A reporter I think. She kind of looks like you, Supergirl.” The girl blinked, head tilted to one side as she looked more closely at Kara.

Kara let out a nervous laugh, “Well Cat G-…er, Kara Danvers and I are good friends, so I’m flattered.”

Lily giggled. “You’re so much cooler than Cat girl though.” Judging by the look on Lena’s face, Kara suspected she was going to spend the next good portion of eternity nicknamed ‘Cat Girl’.

She was not amused.

Noting Kara’s evident discomfort, Lena apparently decided to return Kara’s earlier favor and put the Super out of her misery.

“Hey Lily,” Lena turned to the young girl, smiling. “We had one more present for you, as a gift for your birthday.”

Lily’s eyes widened. With maturity that no kid her age should have, she stuttered. “N-no way, I can’t accept it. You two coming is more than I could ever want.”

Lena smiled at her, pulling a small stuffed dog out of her coat pocket.

“It’s really more of a favor to us…to me.”

Kara blinked down at Lena. The spotted dog was in good condition, if a little worse for the wear. But it wasn’t new; it wasn’t straight out of the store.

With a start, Kara realized that this stuffed animal was personal to Lena.

This time it was Lena’s turn to pointedly ignore the Super. Despite practically boring holes into the back of the Luthor’s head, Lena refused to look up and meet Kara’s gaze.

“This is Lex. He helped me out when I was in a bad place at a much earlier part of my life.” Lena gingerly passed the dog over towards Lily, who was cradling it like it was the most precious thing in the planet.

“With all my meetings and projects, I haven’t been able to take as good care of him as he deserves. I was wondering…if you wouldn’t mind taking care of him for me?”

Lena gave the girl a small smile.

Lily started bouncing up and down, nodding vigorously. “I’ll take care of him with my life, I promise,” Lily said with utter sincerity.

The older woman’s eyes crinkled softly. “Thank you,” she whispered. Kara thought it almost sounded like a goodbye and was surprised to feel tears pricking the corner of her eyes.

“You two are amazing,” Lily whispered, looking back and forth between Kara and Lena with fascination in her eyes. “You are everything I heard about and more.”

Kara blinked as she furrowed her brow. _Well that was an odd statement…_

“I hope someday I get to have as epic a love story as you two have.”

There was a loud clatter as Lena stood from the bed in shock, dropping her phone in the process.

As it was, Kara was having a hard time processing what was happening.

 _“What?”_ she finally managed to squeak out. “No, Lena and I – we’re just friends, Lily.” Kara, for her part, was surprised she was having such a visceral reaction to the accusation. But that was a problem to figure out on another day. Right now, there were bigger things afoot.

Namely, a 9-year old who had completely misunderstood the relationship between the Super and Luthor.

Lily fixed the superhero with an incredulous look. “Look, you don’t need to worry. Your secret is safe with me. I won’t tell a soul, I promise.”

Kara glanced over at Lena beseechingly, looking for some help, but the shorter woman was looking at her phone and assessing the damage.

 _At the very least, Lena was going to need a screen replacement_ , Kara thought wryly before shaking herself out of her thoughts.

“Lena, she’ll listen to you,” Kara queried, forcing the young CEO to look up from the phone she had been so fixated on.

Blinking a couple of times, Lena finally responded smoothly. “She’s right, Lily. I’m very sorry you misunderstood the nature of our relationship. We really are just friends.”

Lily frowned, looking between the two of them rapidly. “But…but you almost _died_ for her Lena! You put yourself in the way of Kryptonite!”

Kara was taken aback. _What?_ _That couldn’t have been true…_ Her head whipped around to Lena who was staring at Lily like she’d seen a ghost.

“I-I knew she wouldn’t kill me…” she murmured, rubbing the back of her head. “And that was different, I owed it to Supergirl.” Lena had gone back to pointedly ignoring the woman next to her.

Kara couldn’t believe this. _What did she mean…she owed me? She was willing to die over some make-believe IOU?_

Lily shook her head in growing frustration. “Then what about you, Supergirl?”

Kara blinked at the girl, suddenly very afraid at what she might know.

“Lena, I think I hear an on-going al—” the words died at the tip of her tongue as the woman in question turned to fix her with a scathing look which spoke volumes.

_Are you planning on keeping more secrets, Supergirl?_

“You went back _in time_ , so many times, to get Lena back.”

Oh Rao.

Kara could have died. Shriveled to a crisp. Been stabbed with kryptonite a thousand times over.

_“What?”_


	3. Number 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you for all of the feedback and kudos -- this story isn't supposed to be a daily update (as i'm writing it as i go), but all of the support (coupled with a story i'm excited about telling) really helps me turn these out

Lena was furious. After managing to (somehow) politely depart Lily’s company, Lena had all but stormed out of the hospital; Kara’s pleas fell on deaf ears.

“ _Lena, please._ ” The Super huffed, stamping her foot in frustration. The Luthor paused, back still towards her friend, as she tried to compose her thoughts. They had just made it outside and thankfully the warm sunlight was helping temper her mood.

Licking her lips, the brunette let out a low breath, struggling to get a reign on her emotions.

 _Lilian wouldn’t be pleased,_ she thought, wryly. A Luthor not made of ice.

Scoffing, the executive whipped out her broken phone and pressed a few buttons in quick succession.

“Ms. Luthor how can I –”

The irate woman cut her off. “Cancel all my appointments for the rest of the evening. And send John to pick me up.”

There was a momentary pause as her assistant processed the requests.

“Yes of course Ms. Luthor, right away. I’ve texted John and he’s on his way as we speak.”

Lena nodded to no one in particular. Although not exactly related, having L-Corp issues off her plate settled Lena immensely and she eased her tone into something more amiable.

“Thank you Jess, I appreciate it,” she murmured before hanging up.

With her back still to the Super, Lena spoke.

“You’re coming with me back to L-Corp, and we will discuss this matter there.”

Her tone left little room for argument.

“Of course, Lena,” Kara’s soft voice floated from behind her.

Thankfully, John showed up a moment later, ushering both women into the darkened sedan.

As Lena settled into the plush seats, she waited. She waited for Kara to attempt to explain, to assuage the situation. But, to her credit, Kara remained silent which Lena appreciated. The silence gave her some much needed time to think.

Lips pursed, arms crossed, and eyes squeezed shut in consternation, Lena decided to survey the facts.

Fact 1: Kara had traveled back into time to “get Lena back.”

Fact 2: The only time Kara “lost” Lena was after the latter found out about Supergirl’s double-life as Lena’s best (only) friend.

So, Kara had traveled back in time to gain Lena’s favor by pretending she had trusted her from the very beginning. Or at least…. before Lex told her.

Fact 3: Kara had failed at least twice.

Supergirl had gone back “multiple times”, which meant Kara had made the jump at least twice (though how much she could count on the veracity of a 9-year old was beyond the CEO).

As she ran the scenarios in her head, none of them looked good. How was she to know this wasn’t the scenario where Kara succeeded? That Lena’s thoughts were still her own?

No – Lena shook her head. That was impossible; the only way Kara would have succeeded was if she had revealed her identity before Lex told her. And Lena’s memories still vividly told her exactly how the horrible reveal had taken place.

But – if the whole point was to “get Lena back,” then hadn’t she succeeded in this timeline? God, Lena had spent the last 3 months trying to get their friendship back to normal. Like a complete –

“Ms. Luthor, we’ve arrived.”

Lena’s eyes snapped open, turning her head to look out of the open door and towards her stoic, ever-reliable, driver.

“Thanks John,” she mumbled, sliding past him. She could hear Kara scrambling out behind her.

“Supergirl,” John said, politely, as she exited the vehicle.

“Thanks John.” Lena could practically hear the cheeriness in the blonde’s voice, and it rankled her.

Thoughts swirled in her head.

_Was Kara not upset about another potential fallout between the two of them?_

_Did Supergirl really think she was not in the wrong?_

And then the worst one…

_Am I overreacting?_

Moving as if on autopilot and still consumed by her thoughts, Lena somehow found herself back in front of her office.

“Ms. Luthor,” Jess breathed, standing up in greeting. “Supergirl,” she acknowledged, tilting her head.

“Jess, hold my calls for the rest of the day,” Lena directed, in lieu of greeting, as she strode past. “Let them know I’ll follow-up with them in the morning.” As an afterthought, Lena called out behind her, “and please order me a new phone.”

Lena had just enough time to hear Jess’ confirmation before her office doors swung shut with a resounding thud.

* * *

Kara followed the younger woman into the familiar suite, watching as the CEO walked towards her desk.

Back amongst the familiar…back in her element… Lena had visibly relaxed. And Kara wasn’t complaining.

Lena pulled a couple of glasses out from her desk. She poured a healthy dose of liquid into both, proffering one to the extremely uncomfortable looking superhero.

“Um, you know –” Kara started, eyeing the drink.

“Yours is alien based,” Lena interjected. “Mine is scotch,” despite herself, Lena gave the taller woman a small smile. “If you cared.”

Kara relaxed her features slightly and she offered her friend a careful smile as she picked up the glass.

“Of _course_ I care.” Kara took a sip of the substance, noting the dull burn that traveled down her throat. _How did Lena even get ahold of this st—_

“If you cared, why did you go back in time to alter my memories?”

Kara choked on her drink, spluttering the alien liquid all over her uniform as she gaped at brunette woman in shock.

The statement hadn't been said with malicious intent. And Lena no longer seemed angry, just...disappointed. For some reason, that made Kara feel a lot worse.

“That’s not exactly what I was…” Kara trailed off, eyeing the now-exhausted CEO with astonishment.

“I _swear_ Lena. That’s not…” she shook her head, biting her lip.

“Maybe it was,” Kara corrected, eyes shuttering closed as she took a deep breath. “I told myself I was just trying to correct my mistake, but…”

Kara trailed off and opened her eyes. To her relief, the other woman looked caught off guard at Kara’s admission.

“But, if I’m being honest, I really just wanted you back in my life.”

Lena blinked at the Super in silence, unsure of how to respond. It seemed as if the other woman was turning a light shade of red, but it could have been the glow of the slowly dipping sun. Or Kara’s overly hopeful imagination.

Kara chuckled to herself. Definitely the Super's overactive imagination.

Eventually, Lena settled on taking another sip of liquid courage.

“How many times?”

Kara felt her grip on the glass tighten. “Sorry?”

“How many times did you go back?” Lena leaned against her desk, eyeing the amber liquid in the glass as she swirled it. “By my estimate I would say more than twice – you’re not one to give up after a couple attempts, but less than five. You’re not obsessive. Four?”

Green eyes looked up and held cerulean blue.

Kara let out a low laugh, shaking her head. “I don’t know why I’m ever surprised by you. Yes, it was four.”

Nodding, Lena licked her lips, readying herself for the inevitable question.

“And is this the fourth time?” Lena could feel herself buzzing, and it wasn’t from the alcohol. She waited with bated breath as she worried exactly how Kara would respond.

“What – _no_ , Lena. This is not the fourth time.” Kara shook her head with fervor as she heard the other woman let out a sigh of relief.

“No, every time I went back, I realized I only made things worse.”

Lena scoffed, taking another sip from her glass. “And what if it didn’t?”

Kara blinked. “What?”

Lena fixed her with a look that would have caused grown men to cower. “What if it didn’t make it worse? What if I forgave you? What if I accepted you from the start?”

Kara found herself momentarily lost for words.

“Would you have erased everything else that happened? All of my memories? All of _our_ memories?”

Kara opened her mouth to respond but found she simply didn’t have the words to suffice. Because frankly, she didn’t _know_ what she would have done. It was quite possible…quite likely, Kara would have switched realities around if that meant having Lena back on her side.

“Kara, we would have been _completely_ different people.”

The words were like an open-handed slap to the face and Kara took a physical step back in shock.

_Because being subjected to such a stark revelation terrified her to no end._

_Because one of those four scenarios had gotten awfully close to being perfect._

_Because Lena was right._

Her Lena – Her _best friend_ was the one with the good _and_ the bad and all of the experiences in between. That’s what made her the Lena that Kara would have gone to the ends of the world for.

And Kara almost erased that.

Kara took a deep drink from her glass, feeling her emotions waver.

“You’re right.” She sighed, looking at Lena in regret. “You are so right, and I’m so sorry.”

“She _only_ did it for you, you know. Personally, I would have thought it was so _romantic_.”

Both woman whipped their heads towards a tall man leaning against the doors.

“ _Roman_ —” Lena spluttered, looking at the man that had suddenly just appeared at her door. “ _Excuse_ me, but how the hell did you get in –” Lena started, about to crucify the man to high heavens for multiple affronts.

“Kara, friend," the man grinned like a Cheshire cat. "Do you want to do the honors? Or should I?” Kara groaned in frustration.

“Lena, there’s no point.” Lena’s head turned to Kara in abject disbelief.

“Excuse me?”

Groaning, Kara shook her head vigorously.

“That’s Mxy.”

Lena gestured to the air. “Is that supposed to mean something?”

“Yes…no,” Kara sighed. “He’s from the 5th dimension. He’s the one that sent me back in time.” Kara was starting to a distinct buzzing, a tell-tale sign that she was getting tipsy. Any more alcohol and Kara couldn’t be trusted to talk straight, let alone protect Lena from an overzealous 5th-dimensional imp. She eyed the liquor before setting it down on the table. Out of sight, out of mind.

“Mxyzptlk, to be precise,” the man beamed, eyes freakishly wide. “At your service,” he whirled his hand and bowed grandly towards Lena.

“Oh boy,” Lena muttered, shaking her head before retreating behind her desk.

“Mxy, what are you doing here?” Kara asked, tiredly. “It’s too late for this.”

The man in question shook himself upright. “Why, it’s just five past 5 pm!”

“Exactly,” Kara and Lena rejoined in unison. Kara looked over at the other woman, offering a small smile. Despite herself, Lena couldn’t help but let out an amused chuckle as she rolled her eyes.

“Well I never,” Mxy huffed. “I expected better from you Kara, especially after I came all this way to tell you about a certain little girl.”

The smile instantly fell off Kara’s face.

“What do you mean, Mxy?” It was a simple question, but the threat in her words was very real.

Not that Mxy cared. “Well, you broke that poor little girl’s heart and all. By telling her you two weren’t,” he shrugged noncommittally. “You know, together.”

Kara gritted her teeth. “What have you _done,_ Mxy,” she asked, knowing full well she wasn’t going to get a straight answer from the imp.

Mxy bobbled his head and grinned, “Well it’s not what _I’ve_ done, per-say.” The man swished a couple of fingers and both Kara and Lena found themselves suddenly sitting on the couch.

“ _Seriously_ Mxy?” Kara snapped.

Lena let out a low chuckle of incredulity. “What…are you some kind of all-powerful being?”

Mxy guffawed. “This one’s a keeper, Kara, I like her. I see why you wanted to change the past for her.”

“Mxy!” Kara let out an indignant squawk. That was still a fresh wound. But to Kara’s surprise, she noticed Lena trying hide a laugh behind her hand. Kara’s expression softened.

Mxy gave Lena a surreptitious wink. “All powerful? That I am.” Despite herself, Lena found herself giving the imp a smile.

With a rueful shake of the head, Kara finally interrupted the little display.

“So, are you going to tell us what this is about then Mxy?” Kara finally acquiesced to the other worldly being. If he could lighten Lena’s mood, maybe his presence wasn’t _that_ unwanted.

“Even better,” he pipped, snapping his fingers. A 1990s television set appeared square in front of the two women. “I’m going to _show_ you.”

“Kara…” Her name out of Lena’s lips was laced with trepidation, as the woman in question gave her a nervous glance.

Kara shook her head, “We won’t be going back into time, he’ll just be playing it back for us. _Right_ Mxy?” Kara fixed him with a pointed look.

Mxy crossed his heart. “Scout’s honor!” Kara rolled her eyes, exasperated. Before she could get in a word edgewise, the imp popped in a cassette tape simply labeled, “Number 9”.

After a few moments, it became evident that there were...technical difficulties. “Is something supposed to happen…” Lena trailed off, staring at the still-blank screen.

“Uh,” Kara looked at Mxy who was in turn still looking at the TV.

“Sometimes it needs a good couple of smacks,” he grumbled, slamming his hand a couple of times against the box’s rims. "If Mxyflix wasn't down, we could just do this the normal way."

After several of seconds, a black and white image finally popped up.

"Ah, brilliant," he grinned at the two sitting on the couch.

**_Five Months Ago_ **

Lena blinked, staring at Kara.

“Really?”

Kara shook her head in frustration. “He’s the quirky one, don’t ask me.”

“Shhh,” Mxy hissed, motioning towards the screen. “Here’s where it gets important.”

The face that appeared next on-screen startled Lena so badly she slammed her head back into the wall.

“Fuck,” she swore. Kara’s gaze was wretched from the TV to look at her friend, who was now rubbing her head in exasperation. “Lex.” She waved down a protective Kara who had gestured to Mxy to pause the playback. “I’m fine, Kara. Please keep going Mxy.”

The imp beamed. “My pleasure.”

\--

_Five Months Ago_

Lex was pacing back and forth, his lab coat billowing behind him as he threw a clipboard across the laboratory.

“Failure after _failure_ after FAILURE!” He screeched in rage. “How many fucking times do I have to fail to get this right!”

“I have everything I needed, it just needed one more try, just one more….”

‘ _Do you want to terminate the proceedings?’_ A robotic voice called out.

The suited man looked at the computer screen in disgust. Bright red letters appeared on the screen. **_Terminate Experiment 8?_**

Muttering to himself, Lex slammed his hand down on the keyboard. “This one didn’t even get to _6 months_. A fucking Stage 1 failure.”

 _‘Experiment 8 will be terminated,’_ the robotic voice responded even as the bright red letters flashed across every screen in the lab.

**_Terminated._ **

Frustrated, Lex stormed out of the lab. “I need a fucking break.”

\--

“What is he doing,” Lena asked quietly, eyes fixated on the screen.

“I don’t understand,” Kara responded slowly, looking back at Lena. “We never found this lab when we arrested Lex.”

Lena had a grimace etched onto her face. “My elder brother always did find a way to turn everything into a secret laboratory.”

She gave Kara a pointed look. “I mean, look at what he did in prison.”

Kara gritted her teeth. “Fair point.”

Mxy waved his hands in front of the two of them to gain their attention.

“I skipped ahead to the most important part,” he gestured grandly to the screen. “You two need to keep watching.”

Frustrated, the two women settled back into the couch as Lex appeared on the screen once more. This time the supervillain unfortunately seemed to be in a much better mood.

\--

_Four Months Ago_

Lex was rapidly typing into a computer.

“Yes, yes….this is perfect.” He all but jogged to another computer across the way.

“Vitals look good…subject has now successfully developed into Stage 2.”

Laughing to himself, Lex praised his own genius. “A Luthor and a Super…my DNA is too unstable, that’s why all the others failed. Mother never had the right…. _pedigree_ ,” he hissed.

He jogged over to a fogged-up tube that towered over the bald man. Lex placed one hand lovingly placed on the glass. “But my naïve half-sister on the other hand solves that little problem. All it took was a little DNA manipulation, some tidy reconfiguration, and…”

He grinned wickedly.

“Already halfway there, just one more week and I’ll have what will be the most powerful weapon this side of the Earth has seen. With it, every last alien scum will be wiped from this planet. With their eradication, I’ll give the human race the true leader it deserves.”

A wicked smile crossed his face. But his dreams of grandiose and carnage were cut short by an ever-familiar voice.

‘ _Warning. Anomaly detected in the CSF.’_

Horror appeared in Lex’s eyes. “No. NO!” He screamed, running back towards another computer.

Images appeared on his screen, one of which had a red circle around what was apparently a rapidly developing mass.

_‘It is recommended to discontinue Experiment 9. Subject will not survive through Stage 2.’_

Bright red letters appeared on the screen.

**_Terminate Experiment 9?_ **

Lex let out a scream of frustration. Instead of acknowledging the request, he ripped the screen out of the interface and threw it against tube.

The megalomaniac stormed out of the lab without a backwards glance.

He never even saw the glass doors shift open and a certain, vacant looking girl walk out.

Two words flashed on the screen as its light dimmed.

**_Termination Failed._ **

\--

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” Lena hissed, staring at the screen. “That…she’s…” She shook her head. “Are you saying _Lily_ is my _daughter_.”

Mxy snapped away the TV and was besides himself. “A Luthor,” he singsonged, gesturing to Lena. “and a Super,” he trilled, gesturing to Kara. “A Luthor and a Super, a Super and a Luthor, a Luthor and a-“

“ _Enough_ Mxy,” Kara snapped, staring at him. “What you’re talking about is impossible. Even on Krypton, this kind of synthesis was new technology. Never tested. There’s no way _Lex_ figured this out when human technology is simply so far behind.”

Mxy gave her an incredulous look. “You understand Lex initially tried and _failed_ to use his own DNA right?”

Kara gaped at him. “Lena, _tell_ him,” the Super whirled on her friend who was simply staring blankly at into space.

“It’s…possible…” she trailed off, weakly.

Kara looked up at Mxy in triumph. “See!” she retorted loudly, “She says it’s…possible….” Kara tapered off as Lena’s words finally registered, whipping her head back around to Lena.

“Are you serious?” she whispered, looking at the younger woman with incredulity.

Lena shook her head, closing her eyes. “It’s…possible. There have been plenty of experiments done on animals to develop reproductive material from DNA.”

Kara gaped at her. “It’s a far cry from a baby mouse, to a baby _human_ , Lena. Let alone a _Kryptonian. Let alone a hybrid of both!_ ” The woman retorted, indignantly. “Not to mention that the video claims that he developed that kid in what….1 week?”

Lena let out an exasperated laugh. “That part is definitely possible, I’ve seen it done with clones.”

Kara shook her head. “Look, if she really had a Super’s DNA,” the woman continued, refusing to concede that _she_ might be the other parent in this equation. “She would exhibit the signs. As far as I can tell, Lily exhibited no superstrength, no superspeed, she couldn’t fly…” The blonde looked up at Mxy shrugging her shoulders.

“She’s not Super, Mxy.”

The imp shook his head in disappointment. “I expected more from you, Kara,” he murmured, looking at her with his expression quite bereaved. “She’s half Super, half human. No one knows how her powers would manifest. It might manifest during the time every human begins their progression to adulthood.”

He paused to consider his words. “I’d put it around 12-13, no?”

Kara groaned, pinching her nose. “Are you talking about _puberty_ , Mxy?”

“It would make sense, Kara,” Lena murmured, finally coming to her senses. "It's also possible that her Super abilities might never manifest. Lex _did_ deem this experiment a failure after all."

Kara was taken aback. “How are you so willing to accept this?”

Lena was silent for a moment, eyes closed as she appeared to gather her thoughts. Finally, she shifted towards Kara with her eyes now trained on what remained of her idle glass of scotch.

“That girl in that room… I didn’t notice until we really got to talking, but she felt like family. More than anyone else ever has, Kara.”

Then Lena caught Kara’s gaze and held it.

“And she had your eyes.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter was more plot driven, less shipping :( next chapter will have Lena and Kara have a much needed talk
> 
> in case anyone is wondering: i have 4 main plot points that this story is driving towards. the end of this chapter takes us partway through the 2nd.


	4. One begets Another

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks again for all the support c:

Kara was plastered. Well not completely. But close. She also might have been milking it a little to temporarily avoid the elephant in the room. But just a little.

“Wedya ged dis duff fom,” she slurred, looking over at the surprisingly near-sober lady next to her.

“What?”

Kara lifted up a limp arm, gesturing to her empty glass on the table.

“Oh,” Lena laughed quietly. “The Aldebaran rum.” The corners of her lips twitched upwards in mild amusement. “I’d heard you were familiar with it.”

Kara’s eyes grew wide. “How dya hear ‘bout dat.” Her mind drifted back to that night with Mon-El.

Lena smiled to herself, letting out a small huff. “You can’t expect me to give away all my secrets,” she drawled, eyeing the woman next to her fondly.

Kara squinted at her. “So now, _you_ can keeb segets,” she accused, jabbing a finger into the woman’s check.

Lena looked at her with both eyebrows raised in skepticism.

Kara blinked, thinking back to her words. Perhaps she was a little bit more inebriated than she thought.

“Sowwy,” she mumbled, letting her finger drop.

The two woman were sprawled across the couch in Lena’s office (read: Kara was sprawled and Lena was neatly tucked in a corner). Mxy had long been banished (he would say, _willingly departed_ , but they all knew better) from the Luthor’s office. The CEO’s suit jacket had been abandoned, her sleeves rolled up and a couple of shirt buttons were undone as if the woman had known exactly how long of an evening she had ahead of her. Kara, for her part, had discarded the Supergirl persona in favor of a well-worn sweatshirt and comfortable slacks, though the crux of Kara Danvers -- her characteristic glasses -- lay abandoned on the table next to them.

Honestly…Kara couldn’t remember the last time she was _Kara Danvers_ without the glasses.

“An answer for an answer.”

Kara’s attention snapped back to Lena’s face, who was now gazing off into the distance.

“Wad?” She squinted at the Luthor in confusion.

“I’ll answer your question,” Lena arched an eyebrow, as she turned to meet Kara’s gaze. “And you’ll answer one of mine.”

Kara nodded sagely, “Yea, okeydokey. No moh segets,” she promised.

“No more secrets.” Lena lifted her glass in mock toast.

“How ah yous sill dinking dat?” The blonde looked over at Lena incredulously. She had been nursing the same drink since they had gotten back to her office, _almost two hours ago._

Lena chuckled. “Some of us like to leisurely enjoy their alcohol,” she retorted, giving Kara an amused look.

“Bud foh _dwo owers?”_ Kara threw her arms out wide, almost whacking Lena in the process, in an effort to convey exactly _how_ egregious said woman’s drinking-buddy violation was.

Lena sighed, watching her glass as she swirled the amber liquid around lazily.

“I’m really just using it to take the edge off…I would much rather be the sober one while _you’re_ drunk.”

Kara gasped, offended.

“How cudya do dat do me?” The Super paused for a minute, fully processing what her friend had said. “And I’m _not_ dwunk,” she weakly exclaimed.

Lena fixed her with an amused look.

“ _Do_ you?”

Kara flushed scarlet, easily embarrassed with a couple of glasses of alien rum running through her veins. “Yous dow waddi mean.”

The other woman burst out laughing. “Darling, you’re an adorable drunk. I’ll have to make sure I am well-stocked with this Alien liquor, because we are _definitely_ doing this again.”

Kara frowned, feeling like she was being made fun of. “Yous newer dold me howdya fwound oud.”

Lena gave her amused look, shaking a finger. “No, no, the deal was an answer for an answer. And now you’ve asked three questions.”

The superhero let out an indignant huff. A small voice of reason – probably the last semblance of her intellect which had yet to become corrupted by the drinks – warned Kara that going down this path might not be the best of ideas

Not when the other woman had just admitted to purposely wanting the Super loose lipped.

But she already owed Lena at least one answer. She promised, and Kara Danvers _always_ kept her promises. She glanced down at the glasses on the table. Though _technically_ , she was both people right now.

“Fwine, wads da queshion,” she muttered, crossing her arms.

“So…” Lena took a wig of the scotch as she contemplated her question, looking out into the city from the windows in the distance.

“What was up with you at the hospital?” The Luthor paused, biting her lip in a show of hesitancy before blustering on. “You started acting weird when we were with Lily.”

Kara gaped at her.

Unbeknownst to the Super’s shock (or perhaps, in spite of), the Luthor continued on. “Particularly when Lily and I had gotten into a rather interesting discussion on wavefunction collapse and its uses for building a quantum measurement scheme.”

Lena quirked an eyebrow, turning back to her friend as she queried for a response.

“Dat’s nod fwair.” Kara crossed her arms in an x-shaped fashion, exasperated. “Low blow. _”_

“ _Difwent queshion_.” Kara enunciated slowly, adamantly shaking her head.

Lena shook her head in bemusement.

“Okay Kara,” the Luthor gave an exaggerated sigh of disappointment. “But I really believed you when you promised me.”

Kara could feel herself faltering. That stupid voice in her head should have warned her _before_ she agreed to this Rao-forsaken game.

“Dat’s nod fwair,” Kara repeated, this time in a whisper. “Dat pwomise was made udder false pwetenses.” The blonde groaned, sinking deeper into the couch. “Nod fwair.”

Lena frowned, letting her shoulders droop a little, head bent in apparent aggrievement.

Kara suspected this was all an act, but the alcohol had dulled her normally quite-adept comprehension abilities so she couldn’t exactly be sure.

She narrowed her eyes, huffing.

“Fwine, but I need anodder dwink.”

Lena surveyed her for a minute before disappearing and reappearing with a glass bottle. She topped Kara off and watched as the woman took a sip before spitting it all over Lena’s glass table.

“Lewa, I doh wad _scodch_ dastes like.” She looked at Lena with the face of utter betrayal. “I mighd as well be dwinking wadder.”

Lena let out a low laugh. “Darling, what kind of friend would I be if I let you keep drinking in this state?”

At the indignant look on the Super’s face, Lena continued, “Look, if you don’t want to talk about it, it’s fine. Really.” Lena fixed Kara with a sincere look and the Super could feel herself melting. “It was a bit of a low blow for me to ply you with alcohol, even if you really did make it all too easy,” she drawled in amusement.

Kara pursed her lips, stuffing her hands in her pocket.

“Nod fwair,” the Super murmured.

Lena laughed, “I know, I know. I’m not fair. Come on, let’s get you to bed. Not many people know this, but I’ve got a spare room in the back for late nights at the office.”

Lena grabbed Kara’s arm in an attempt to pull her off the couch, but the Super refused to move.

“What – Kara, come _on_.” Lena gave a bit of a harder tug, but Kara still refused to budge. On the third attempt, Kara flipped the situation around and tugged on Lena instead. The Luthor let out an abrupt squeak before falling backwards onto the blonde’s lap.

Arms snaked around Lena’s waist to keep her in place, before blonde hair buried into the crook of younger woman’s neck. Kara breathed in deeply.

“I missed yous,” Kara murmured. _Okay she might actually be extremely drunk._

“I-uh…” Lena struggled to maintain an even voice after being put into such an unexpected situation. “Kara, I’m right here. We have _literally_ never been closer,” she retorted, clearly flustered at her new seating situation.

“I mean…deez last few monds.”

Lena blinked. _Oh._

“You’d been acting odd, you know…like you had to keep a certain distance,” Lena began, hesitantly. “I was beginning to think you didn’t enjoy my company anymore.”

Lena could hear Kara scoff into her shirt.

“Iwwa awfaid yous didn’t _like_ me anymwore,” Kara finally responded. “Youda bwoken my heart, if yous dunned down a hug.” Kara tightened her arms around the Luthor, burying herself deeper.

Lena’s heart and head were practically short circuiting at this point. She was grateful the Super was apparently beyond intoxicated, because she didn’t think she’d live her erratic heartbeat down if the girl-wonder actually noticed.

Plying Supergirl with Alien liquor had officially backfired. Spectacularly.

Lena shook herself out of her unfortunately revelation.

“Well it’d have only been fair,” she joked, voice cracking midway. “You did break mine.”

There was a lengthy period of silence from the Super, and Lena found herself regretting the quip.

“You know we’re over that right? I’m over it.” Lena softly murmured, her mind finally rebooting from the sudden Kara overload even if her heart hadn’t exactly gotten the memo yet.

Lena could feel Kara hum into her back in agreement.

“Dat’s why Iwwa weird.”

Lena’s heart thudded in her chest, painfully.

“What?” she asked quietly.

Kara tightened her grip on the Luthor once more. “In da hopidal…” Kara mumbled. “Wid…ow daughder.” Ah, there it was. The elephant in the room they had both been avoiding talking about.

Lena blinked as she felt the words as much as heard them as her heart fluttered and stomach clench. Her visceral reaction made Lena question her previous conclusion of being sober. _Perhaps I’ve drank more than I thought,_ Lena mused.

“Because I was jwealous dat she cud hug yous and douch yous, and I cudn’t.”

Lena took a sharp intake of breath at the confession. This was not what she expected. Well…to be frank, she had actually no idea what the reason was when she asked the question. But she did know it wasn’t _this._

“Kara…” she breathed, flushing despite realizing that the other woman had no idea what she just said sounded like.

She twisted around, cupping Kara’s face to look the depressed Super in the eyes. Lena was so close that she could see the specks of turquoise in her eyes and feel the blonde’s soft breath on her face.

“You can have all the hugs you want from now on,” she said, seriously. “I promise.”

Kara’s eyes searched Lena’s for any semblance of hesitation. After a moment of finding none, Kara’s face lit up like a literal sun before she threw her arms around Lena’s neck.

Lena froze for a moment before relaxing into the hug. As she buried herself back into the blonde for the first time in such a long time, she absently found herself wondering why she had ever doubted the intentions of someone so pure to end up hurting her so badly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A shorter update this time -- but pure fluff (well mixed with angst). We return to the plot next chapter!


	5. The Morning After

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm starting to wonder if I've massively underestimated how long this story's going to be...

Lena woke with a start to the sound of dull humming. Sunlight was filtering through the windows. The Luthor was forced to shield her eyes as she blearily sat up on the couch, scrambling to find her phone.

 _Bzzzzzzzz_. _Bzzzzzzzzz. Bzz._

By the time she had found her suit jacket and pulled the phone out of its pocket, the buzzing had stopped.

White numbers illuminated the screen.

_8:27 am._

Lena let out a groan, she had drastically overslept. She could imagine the number of calls she had to return this morning. Not to mention the meetings that Jess had probably rescheduled…

Somehow…despite sleeping on a couch which was practically half her height, she had one of the most peaceful night’s rest in recent memory. She wasn’t even sure how that was possible given the _absolute chaos_ that had taken place over the past 24 hours.

Lena tapped her phone a couple of times. Despite its cracked screen, Lena could still make out the notifications.

_1 missed call._

_100 new emails._

And…

 **_Alex (DEO):_ ** _Is Kara with you?_

Lena frowned; Alex hadn’t contacted her since they had put away Lex. With the crazed megalomaniac behind bars, there had been a massive restructuring effort within this world’s National City. Lena, similar to Earth-38, had regained her rightful place as CEO of L-Corp. Unlike her past universe, though, Lena had also gained ownership of the DEO. When Brainy decided to step down from the Director position following his near-death experience with Lex and Leviathan, Lena had asked Alex to return.

Given the massive fallout between Kara and Lena, Lena’s own betrayal, and well… _literally_ everything else, Lena had assumed it was a crapshoot.

And yet, somehow Alex had accepted (with the understanding that Alex retained absolute authority over DEO decision making).

Since then, Lena and Alex had extraordinarily little interaction. Even when Alex had reached out, it had always been through a third party (read: Kelly or J’onn).

Another message popped up.

 **_Alex (DEO):_ ** _Can’t get ahold of her._

Lena chanced a look at the backroom door, which was still closed.

_Is Kara still here?_

She unlocked the phone, confirming that the missed call was indeed from Alex. Not wanting to have a conversation with DEO Director (she assumed the feeling was mutual), Lena opted to respond to the message.

 **_Lena:_ ** _Not sure. She stayed in a spare room last night._

Lena narrowed her eyes as the tell-tale typing dots appeared on her screen.

 **_Alex (DEO):_ ** _Can you check? Tell her she needs to stop by before CatCo._

There was a momentary pause before another message almost immediately followed.

 **_Alex (DEO):_ ** _Tell her Mxy is back. She will know._

Lena chuckled.

 **_Lena:_ ** _We met him last night._

Dots appeared again and then disappeared. Lena arched an eyebrow in amusement, watching the appearance and disappearance of the dots over a good minute. Finally, the Director responded.

 **_Alex (DEO):_ ** _Tell her to stop by anyways. You should come too._

Lena scoffed, putting her phone down on the table. Typical Alex.

There was another buzz and Lena looked back at her phone curiously.

 **_Alex (DEO):_ ** _Don’t meet anyone. And don’t read the news._

Lena narrowed her eyes. What was _that_ supposed to mean? As tempted as she was to pull up CatCo’s website, she simply didn’t have the energy to care about the next _big bad_ so to speak.

She had to worry about Lily.

Sighing, Lena ran a hand through her hair, attempting to look at least somewhat respectable before checking in on a potentially sleeping superhero.

Then she froze, attention snapping back to her phone and the table it was laying on. She distinctly remembered her office being in quite the disarray last night. Particularly, her glass table had been covered in nearly-digested, ridiculously expensive, decades-aged scotch.

She gingerly tapped the table to make sure, but her suspicions were quickly confirmed. The table was clean. She cast a cursory glance around the office and let out a rue sigh. It was spotless. Then she noticed a blanket on the ground.

Lena’s expression softened. _Had Kara gotten up to give her the blanket?_

From the blanket’s location to the spotless office area, Kara’s presence was literally everywhere.; given that it was obvious the superhero had woken up in a significantly less inebriated state, Lena would be _shocked_ if her friend was within 100 feet of the building, let alone still in that room.

But, she had promised – implicitly anyways – Alex that she’d check to make sure.

Picking herself up off the couch and grabbing the throw, Lena made her way to the backroom.

She knocked twice, to no reply.

Lena shook her head. She’d have to tell Alex she had absolutely no idea where her sister was. But as it were, the CEO still needed to get changed. Jess (not to mention, the rest of the company) would notice if Lena was still wearing the same clothes from last night. And while they all knew that Lena spent the occasional (read: many) night in the office, her unkempt appearance would by the subject of many a rampant rumor.

And it simply was not something she wanted to deal with given everything else that was going on.

So, it goes without saying that the Luthor opened the room with every intention of picking up some fresh clothes.

Instead, she gasped and dropped the blanket with a light thud as her attention fixated on one rolled up Kara Danvers _who was still very much in the building_. The young woman was curled up in a ball, hoody drawn over her head and eyes closed with her hands tucked behind a pillow. Noticeably, missing the very same blanket which was now occupying the floor.

As Lena openly gaped at the reporter still curled up in the room, a small voice sounded out, “Kara Danvers is not available for comment.”

As her mind finally started to comprehend the situation, amusement rapidly began to overtake the surprise on the Luthor’s face.

“You _do_ know that I can see you talking Kara.”

If it was even possible, Kara curled up in a tighter ball.

“Kara will not be available for comment for the next millennia.”

Mirth sparkled in Lena’s eyes. _Oh, she was going to enjoy this._

“Hm…if you say so. But I’ve got an important message for Supergirl.”

Kara groaned, covering her face with her pillow.

“Supergirl isn’t available either.”

At this point, Lena openly laughed. “I take it you remember what happened last night then.”

Kara burrowed further under the pillow. “I’m never drinking again. Never.”

The juxtaposition between the painfully-embarrassed Kara today versus the overconfident, oddly _flirty_ , Kara last night filled Lena with the odd itch to tease the other woman incessantly.

And it’s _oddly satisfying_ to scratch an itch.

“Well, you were very adamant yesterday that you were looking forward to drinking more.”

Kara groaned loudly. “I’m a monster.”

Chuckling, Lena took a seat on a corner of the bed as she gave the other woman a brief reprieve. “You’re _fine_ Kara,” she finally said. “We’re fine, it’s really not your fault.” Urging the Super a little, she continued, “Come on, you need to get up. Your sister needs you at the DEO this morning.”

After a few seconds of silently wiggling around on the bed, Kara finally sat up. The reporter kept her head bowed as she refused to meet the young CEO’s gaze.

“Kara,” Lena intoned, gently touching her shoulder as she willed the taller woman to look at her.

“Do you hate me?” Kara asked weakly, eyes slightly watery, as she brought herself to finally meet Lena’s beseeching gaze. Kara had a half smile on her face as if to imply it wasn’t a serious question…but somehow, Lena could tell the reporter needed an answer.

“Kara, _no_.” She gave her a reassuring smile. “How could I hate one of the only people who doesn’t make me want to rip out my hair on a daily basis?”

The answer seemed to settle Kara because she let out a breath. “Rao, I am _so_ embarrassed,” Kara grimaced, ducking her head as she massaged her temple. 

“You didn’t seem that embarrassed last night,” Lena couldn’t help but tease.

Kara gaped at her. “Lena…”

“I mean,” the Luthor continued, simply unable to help herself now that she had gotten started. And not after _all_ those months of failed attempts at teasing. “I _rather distinctly_ recall someone saying they were jealous of a little kid.”

Kara’s eyes widened in horror and she let out a yelp, covering her head with the pillow.

“I can’t hear you Lena!”

“Something about how she wanted to _hug_ someone and _touch some—_ ” Lena spluttered, unable to finish her sentence, as a flying pillow rudely interrupted her perfectly splendid barb.

The CEO gaped at the bright red reporter sitting crossed legged on the bed, cheeks puffed out in indignation.

“You’re a monster.” Kara spluttered. She was so red that Lena would have been seriously worried if she were a normal human. But as it were…

“ _I’m_ a – Kara Zor-El Danvers, you _threw a pillow at me_. And you have the nerve to call _me_ the monster?” Lena looked at Kara incredulously.

The two of them stared at each other for a good thirty seconds before bursting into laughter.

Kara placed a hand over her eyes, smiling to herself. “We’re like a couple of teenagers.”

“God, is this what it’s like to be a normal teenager?” Lena chuckled, wiping a stray tear from her eye. “Pillow fights and misunderstandings?”

Kara shrugged, giving the Luthor a small grin. “Well, I wouldn’t be the best judge of a normal teenager.”

Lena met the smile with one of her own, green eyes looking fondly over at cerulean kind ones.

Kara poked Lena in the shoulder.

“I feel like we’re going to be okay?” Lena knew she wasn’t just talking about last night. She laughed.

“I think we’re better than okay; would you have thrown a pillow at me last year?”

Kara feigned mild indignance. “Hey, you forced my hand.”

Lena scoffed, shaking her head but the blatant amusement on her face took away any sting the gesture might normally have had.

But unfortunately, their playful bickering was interrupted by a couple of sharp knocks at the far end of the office.

Before either Kara or Lena could process the implications of said knocking, Jess strode in carrying a small box. It took her only a moment to realize that the room was still very much occupied. She froze in her tracks akin to a deer facing blinding headlights, squeaking in surprise when saw the two in the backroom.

“Ms. Luthor… _Supergirl…_ ” Jess flushed bright red as her eyes rapidly darted between the two of them. “I am _so very_ sorry; Ms. Luthor, didn’t see you come in and when you didn’t respond I just assumed you weren’t in and…”

She picked up the box as she cut off her own ramblings, motioning towards its contents.

“I-I just wanted to leave your new phone for you,” she uncharacteristically stuttered, placing the box on the desk before making a hasty retreat.

Before Lena could figure out exactly what to say or why exactly her assistant was acting so out-of-character, Jess whirled around at the office’s doors.

Still red-faced, she proclaimed, “For what it’s worth, I didn’t believe that article. But now that I…” Jess cleared her throat. “I just want you to know that I _completely_ support you. And given…” The assistant paused, swallowing. “Well, everything, I took the liberty of rescheduling your meetings and calls for next week.”

With those rather ominous words, her rather flustered assistant exited in a flurry.

“Do…you get the feeling that we are missing something?” Lena asked slowly, looking back at Kara with mild apprehension. “Because that was weird.”

Kara shook her head. “Definitely weird, but it’s been a weird 24-hours.” The Super paused, thinking back to Jess’ words. “I can’t believe I forgot about my glasses.”

Lena’s lips quirked upwards. “I can’t believe she literally saw you without your outfit but just because you’re missing the glasses….”

Kara rolled her eyes, “Well my hair is down too…I guess to a normal person, it looks like Supergirl just camped out in your spare room.”

“I don’t think I’ll ever get over the fact that I was fooled by such a basic disguise,” Lena murmured amused. “But seriously,” She ruffled Kara’s hair fondly. “Supergirl has wicked bedhead.”

Kara rolled her eyes. “Like you’re much better?”

Lena huffed. “I was, _actually_ , until someone had the gall to _assault_ me.”

“Oh _really_ , I mean, even your _clothes_ are messed…up…” Kara trailed off, frowning as certain pieces started to come together.

Something clicked. The two of them stared at each other in growing horror.

_Hair mussed. Appearance mussed. Blanket on the floor. Sitting on the same bed…_

“You don’t think…” Lena tapered off, the last word barely a whisper.

“There’s no way…” Kara finished.

Then suddenly they were both dashing for their phones.

“ _Son of a_ \--- mine’s dead,” Kara called out from the room as Lena fumbled to switch the sim cards between phones.

“I know, that’s why your sister messaged me.” Pressing a few buttons, the new phone finally turned on.

She sighed in relief as she realized that Jess had already gone through the phone setup for her. _I really owe that woman a raise_ , she thought wryly.

“My phone’s up and running. I’m looking it up now,” she said, typing in the Catco website.

In a flash, Kara was right by her side. Lena noted that the woman had now changed into her complete Supergirl persona, cape and all.

Lena nearly dropped her phone again when the article finally loaded.

**BREAKING, CATCO EXCLUSIVE: SUPER AND LUTHOR. A MODERN DAY ROMEO AND JULIET?**

Beneath the byline was one slightly blurry but very compromising picture of a Luthor sitting on the lap of a Super.

“ _What the fuck.”_

* * *

Supergirl strode into the DEO control room with a very pissed off Lena Luthor following closely behind.

“Can someone explain what’s going on.”

The small group of people standing around the large monitor in the center of the room rapidly dispersed at the sound of a very irate Supergirl. The remaining four turned around, Winn giving the two newcomers a little wave.

“Supergirl…” Alex started. “We have literally been looking for you all morning.” The DEO Director nodded her thanks towards the L-Corp CEO. “Lena.”

Kara didn’t even acknowledge the greeting, throwing up her hands in a furry.

“Since when has CatCo become the National Enquirer?!” Supergirl demanded. “They don’t just publish unfounded rumors, _especially_ ones that aren’t true.”

“So it’s not true then?” Brainy queried, looking between the two of them curiously.

“What – of course it’s not true,” Lena interjected, looking at the lot of them incredulously. “If we were dating, don’t you think you of all people would have known?”

Kara threw out her hands in frustration. “ _Really_ Brainy, you too?”

“Oh I knew,” Brainy rejoined smugly, holding out a hand towards J’onn. “I said there was an 89.8% chance that the article was…” he paused, looking for the colloquialism. “…full of shit.”

Muttering under his breath (something about never betting against a 12th level intellect again), J’onn slapped some money into the outstretched palm.

The two women watched the interaction with poorly contained outrage.

“You thought there was _10%_ chance of being wrong?” Brainy stared at her, unsure of how to respond. “And J’onn…you of all people, did you _actually_ believe the article?” Kara retorted, looking up at J’onn in disbelief.

The Martian shrugged, an easy look on his face.

“Brainy’s good at logic, not emotions. And I’ve always thought you two…” he gestured between the two women. “…had good chemistry.”

“What, _chemistry_ —” Kara spluttered, attention suddenly darting back to Alex. “Did _you_ think it was true?”

Her sister gave her a pointed look. “Don’t be ridiculous.” She gestured to the two of them. “If I thought it was remotely possible, do you think we’d be standing here?”

Winn looked over at her curiously. “Didn’t you _just_ say that we had that contingency plan on the off-chance that it _was –_ “ He cut himself off at the furious look from the Director.

“ _Alex_ ,” the superhero whined. “You too?”

“I can’t believe this,” Lena muttered, taking a seat in one of the vacant chairs. “I mean, Kara’s dating William.”

“ _Kara’s_ dating William, not Supergirl,” Winn helpfully supplied.

Kara rounded on the two of them. “I’m not _dating_ William – we went on one date,” she retorted, huffing. Lena arched an eyebrow in skepticism.

“I hate to interrupt this little lover’s tiff,” Alex barely suppressed a smile at the affronted squawks from the two woman in question. “But whether or not the article is true is beside the point.”

The Director motioned to Winn who tapped a few buttons on the keyboard. A video feed suddenly popped up.

“ _That_ is the problem,” Alex said, crossing her arms.

On screen was Mxy, walking into an apartment complex and appearing to hold a polaroid in the air.

Alex turned around to gauge both woman’s reactions. Lena’s expression was unyielding but Kara’s…

“ _Mxy_ did this?” Kara groaned, slamming a hand to her head. “Of course, he did.”

“That little imp of yours is pretty meddling,” Lena said dryly.

“I really have no control over him,” Kara retorted, gesturing to the screen. “Do you think I would have sent him to do that?”

Despite herself, Lena found her eyes crinkling in amusement. “No, of course not. But we should go talk to him. He needs to stop interfering.”

“She’s right Supergirl,” Alex responded, catching her sister’s gaze. “We can’t have a 5th dimensional being playing the city like it’s a violin. Plus,” she added slyly. “If you don’t get him to fix this, every bigot in the country is going to be aiming for a certain CEO’s life.”

Kara visibly paled. “I wouldn’t let that happen.”

“This wouldn’t be the first or even the _hundredth_ attempt,” Lena retorted from her seat. “I can take care of myself.”

Kara shot her a warning look as flashbacks from her time travel experience played across her mind. “We can discuss this later. First, we need to find Mxy.”

Lena laughed. “That won’t be too hard, he’s obviously with Lily.”

Kara blinked, that was probably true.

“Who’s Lily?” Winn asked from behind the others.

The two women blanched.

“She’s…well…” Kara hemmed and hawed, trying to get the words out of her mouth in the most delicate way possible.

“She’s our daughter,” Lena said bluntly.

A squeak, a cough, a stuttering and a gasp followed shortly after.

_There was a lot of explaining to do._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, thoughts are always appreciated (but never expected) c:


	6. Burden of Proof

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks to everyone following this story, it's you all who are fueling this crazy update rate.
> 
> apologies in advance for any accidental canon-divergences.

Alex was conflicted after hearing Kara's recap on Lex’s failed experiments for multiple reasons.

The first, because it meant that Lex had effectively grown and killed _at least_ one child and attempted to kill at least one more. She knew that man was twisted, but she thought even he had at least _some_ scruples.

But the second…

“You’re telling me _Lex Luthor_ somehow found a way to create a human from two biological females.”

Despite the situation, Kara's eyes softened. “Well, half-human technically but yeah,” she said quietly, knowing the personal implications for Alex. “I mean, biological sex or species doesn’t seem to matter with his methodology. You could honestly be bigfoot, and I think it would still work.”

Winn whistled. “Wow…I know he's supposed to be incredibly evil and all..." He winced, remembering Lena was in the room. Winn sent Lena an apologetic glance who shrugged in apparent understanding. "But he just made a pretty historic contribution for mankind.”

The Director shot him a look. “Why are we even thinking this is possible?” Returning her gaze back to Kara she asked, “Even assuming he _did_ figure it out...the obvious question still remains. How did he even get your DNA?”

Kara bit her lip, looking down.

“Alex does have a fair point.” Lena stood up from her chair. “They did have that one-on-one fight; it’s possible he got it then.”

Kara shook her head. “No, I would have noticed if he yanked some of my hair out or caused me to actually bleed.”

Lena’s eyebrows shot up, and she gave the Super a questionable look.

“I’m pretty sure it was Red Daughter.”

The silence was deadening.

“I think I might be missing something…” The Luthor tapered off, surveying the group. “Red Daughter was the woman that looked like you,” she nodded towards Kara. “And helped Lex on Earth-38.”

Kara frowned. “She didn’t _help_ Lex, she was manipulated by him.”

“Kara…” Alex interjected, preventing the superhero from going on a potential rant. She turned towards Lena. “Red Daughter basically is Kara.”

“We think she came into existence after I used Harun-El,” Kara continued.

Lena’s eyes almost imperceptibly widened in recognition. “Black Kryptonite.”

J’onn nodded. “It would make sense if he had samples of Red Daughter’s DNA, given how long we know she was with him. When we transferred to Earth Prime, Leviathan must have helped him somehow keep hold of the samples.”

Lena frowned, surveying the group. The new revelation about Supergirl’s _actual_ involvement changed everything, and suddenly the situation wasn’t sitting quite right with Lena. “Look, I know she shares your DNA Kara but…”

Kara cut the shorter woman off abruptly. “Don’t even say it Lena." She gave the CEO a knowing look, understanding exactly where the Luthor had been going. “She’s _my_ daughter, even if that madman did use Red Daughter to get my DNA.”

“But –”

Kara shook her head vigorously. “Red Daughter _is_ me. She merged with me when she died.”

Lena’s eyes widened further in surprise, remaining protests dying mutely on her lips.

“Well that’s new,” Brainy intoned. “Now it makes sense why you were able to defeat Lex during that battle.”

Supergirl shot him a look. “ _Hey_.”

The Coluan frowned, shrugging his shoulders. “Your odds weren’t good, I told you that.”

Narrowing her eyes at him, Kara shook her head slowly as if to say _Et tu, Brute?_

“Holy shit.” The group turned to look at Alex who looked like she was finally starting to believe the impossible. “The kid is really half-Super, half-human?”

“DNA-wise, yes. The video left little doubt to that.”

The DEO Director tilted her head, nodding for the brunette to continue. “I sense that there’s a ‘ _but’_ coming.”

Lena's lips formed a thin line.

“She’s not exhibiting any powers. Like we said earlier, Lex considered her a failure.”

Alex nodded slowly. “Because of the mass?”

“Exactly. About partway during her development, issues started appearing in her cerebrospinal fluid. It led to the development of a tumor -– medulloblastoma. As far as childhood cancers go, it’s brutal.” Lena licked her lips, feeling herself tense at the reminder. She had been worried about Lily _before_ knowing all the facts, and now… “She’s undergoing surgery to remove it next week.” Lena paused, feeling Kara put a supportive hand on her shoulder. “If the surgery does go well, there’s nothing to indicate she won’t develop powers in the future.”

Alex ran a hand through her hair. “I seriously can’t believe this.” Then she narrowed her eyes as a thought seemed to strike her.

“And what does Mxy have to do with this?”

Lena and Kara shared a look.

“To be honest,” Kara started.

“We don’t know,” Lena finished. “We suspect he’s helping Lily.”

Alex threw her arm out towards the frozen image of Mxy on the screen in front of them. “ _This_ is helping Lily?”

Kara could feel the heat start to creep into her cheeks and she willed herself to calm down. “She...maybe...thinks her parents are together,” she said weakly.

Winn burst out laughing before Alex shot him a scathing look. The man soon choked on his laughter.

“So does all of National City now, for that matter.” Alex retorted dryly, crossing her arms.

“It seems to me there are two courses of action,” J’onn directed the group. “First, we need to figure out what Mxy is doing. And why."

Alex nodded. “And second, Supergirl needs to have a conversation with Andrea.”

“I think the odds of a retraction or follow-up article quelling the damage are low,” Brainy finally spoke up. “17.4% if I were to estimate it.”

Alex gave a wry smile, “Who said anything about denying it?”

“ _What?_ ” Lena and Kara sounded in unison, faces pale.

“Calm down,” the Director almost laughed at their reaction. “We’re not going to confirm it either. Brainy’s right –- no one would believe denials right now anyways. We just need to find out why CatCo published it. You were right,” she glanced at Kara. “CatCo _isn’t_ the National Enquirer. This kind of story is usually below their standards.”

Kara nodded slowly, thinking. “It’s a good plan. Lena and I can go to CatCo first, and then stop by the hospital to talk to Mxy and Lily.”

Alex opened her mouth to respond, but Lena beat her to the punch. “I actually think we should split up.”

“ _No._ ” Kara whipped around with such speed that there was a momentary gust of wind. “Did you _not_ hear what Alex said earlier? People will be aiming to _kill_ you, Lena. This city is drowning in hate groups.” She wrung her hands, thinking of the possibilities. Thinking about what happened in those alternate timelines. Lena getting kidnapped. _Lena getting killed._ “And they’re not the only ones that would want you dead. You’ve still got all your original enemies,” the Super gave her a pointed look. “And now all of Supergirl’s. I can’t watch the people I care about get killed because of me.”

Kara was aware of a distinct _Aw_ in the background, but she chose to ignore it.

Lena took a moment before responding. “As a Luthor, I’m well-aware of _exactly_ how many hate groups there are,” she responded dryly. Kara frowned. “I’m not sure you’re hearing me Kara. If it's one group after me or fifteen…assassination attempts are nothing new. And I’ve told you once and I’ll tell you as many times as needed,” she fixed Kara with a heated stare. “I’m not a damsel in a tower that needs protecting.”

Kara felt the blood drain from her face and found herself taking a step back as she struggled to find an appropriate response. Just as she was getting ready to continue their debate, Brainy interjected.

“Lena is right. Odds of success of the two endeavors are 90% if you two split up but only 50% if you don’t.” He looked between the two of them.

“As long as Lena is accompanied by one of us, odds of any harm coming to her go down to only 2.3%.”

“ _What_? _Only_ two...” Kara looked at him like he was insane. “Brainy, if your odds of winning the lottery were 2%, wouldn’t you take it?” The Coluan stared at her blankly.

“No,” he said, bluntly. “If the odds of winning the lottery were 2%, the cash prize would be very low. The expected return of such a bet wouldn't be worth the time invested as compared to my compensation at my day job.”

Kara groaned. Once again, Brainy had completely missed the point.

“Kara,” Lena finally put a hand on the irate woman’s shoulder, calming her down. “It’ll be fine. I’ll take Winn.”

_‘Kara is being awfully protective.’_

“I heard that,” Kara snapped. Looking at the startled expression on Lena’s face who obviously hadn't heard the comment, she shook her head. “Sorry, not you.” Sighing, she hung her head.

“Okay, I get it. I know when I’m being unreasonable. You have the watch in case anything happens,” Kara ignored the pained look from Lena. The latter hadn’t used the replacement watch after the role the old one had in her revenge plot against the Super. “And please take J’onn,” she shot Winn a withering look, particularly for his last comment. “You need more firepower than a glorified analyst in glasses.”

Winn gaped at her. “ _Hey_. I resent that.”

* * *

Supergirl let go of Alex as they landed outside of the media conglomerate, still testy over how events earlier that morning had played out.

Alex waited the whole 30 seconds until they were alone in the elevator to broach the topic of the hour.

“So, do you want to talk about it?” she asked, casting a cursory look over at her sister. The woman in question was staring dead straight and was noticeably stiff.

“About what?” Kara asked, voice tinged with irritation.

“Well, there’s the fact that you suddenly have a 9-year old _daughter_ for one...who could potentially die from cancer and is undergoing a potentially life-threatening surgery next week.” She noticed Kara's grimace.

“Yeah…” Kara breathed out an acknowledgement. “I haven’t really processed that yet.”

Alex hummed in agreement deciding to drop the topic for now.

“You and Lena seem close again,” Alex mentioned, hoping to give her sister a reprieve. It had the opposite effect on the Super though as Alex saw the woman stiffen considerably more.

“If this is about the article…” Kara trailed off, finally turning to fix her sister with a look.

Alex let out a laugh. “Supergirl, _no_.” she enunciated, giving her a wry smile.

“I still remember how weird you were when I came out to you.”

Kara gasped, whirling on her sister. “I wasn’t _weird_.” Alex laughed, looking at the Super with poorly contained skepticism.

“Okay, maybe I was slightly weird,” the blonde conceded, before vehemently continuing. “But not because you’re _gay_. I told you that.”

“Are you _trying_ to convince me that you might have feelings for a woman?” Alex repressed a smile, feigning a serious demeanor.

Before Kara could do anything but gawk at her teasing sister, the elevator doors dinged open and a surprised Nia gasped, _“Supergirl_.”

Both Kara and Alex’s heads whipped towards the startled woman. “I’m _so_ sorry about the article,” Nia whispers. “Andrea kept it on a strict need-to-know basis. I only found out after publication, otherwise I would have called. William didn’t even tell _me_ ,” she rambled, coffee cup trembling as her hand shook from trepidation. “You believe me, right?”

Kara’s eyebrows shot up. “ _William_ published the article”

Alex grabbed the Super’s arm, surveying the rambling woman with an indescribable expression on her face. “Supergirl, we need to go.”

Kara allowed herself to be pulled away before turning to Alex.

 _“William?_ ” she whispered, furiously. “Seriously?” Kara cast a surreptitious look around the room. “He’s not even here.”

The DEO Director tugged Kara along towards the back office. “Probably looking from a comment from Lena,” Alex said dryly, disdain oozing from every word.

Kara furrowed her brow. “I thought you liked William.”

“That was before he very publicly outed Supergirl and L-Corp’s CEO.” Before Kara could interject with another denial, Alex added, “ _Even_ if it’s not true.”

As they arrived outside the office in question, Alex let her hold on the Super go. The Director rapped lightly on glass panes, gaining a certain CEO’s attention.

Andrea looked up from her laptop, smiling.

“Alex. Supergirl,” she intoned nodding towards Kara. “I figured you’d be stopping by.”

“What’s the meaning of this article, Rojas?” Alex interrupted, preventing Kara from responding as she placed a hand on the Super’s elbow. The last thing they wanted was Supergirl losing her temper.

“I would think you would at least confirm with one of the two people in question before publishing such a high-profile article.” Alex noted her sister's response, surprised. The woman was being eerily calm. “CatCo has a reputation to maintain of reporting the _facts_ after all. The last thing we're sure you'd want is the hint of...impropriety.”

Andrea smiled thinly at the poorly veiled threat. “Please take a seat.” The woman motioned to the seats in front of her, closing her laptop. “You have my undivided attention.”

“Thank you,” Alex said, giving the Super a light push after she initially refused to budge.

Narrowed eyes never leaving Andrea, the superhero finally took a seat with Alex soon following suit.

“We know who gave you that picture,” Kara started. “The question is why you published it before validating the source.”

Andrea gave the superhero a small smile before settling back in her chair. “Who said I didn’t validate the source?”

Kara gaped at her. “We – well, I certainly didn’t. I know for a fact Lena didn’t either,” the superhero responded with feigned bluster, casting a worried glance towards Alex. She was relieved when Alex returned her confused stare.

“What are you saying?” The Director said shortly, directing a cold look towards the rather smug woman across the table.

“If you must know,” Andrea pursed her lips. Kara could feel her nose flare in irritation. She was coming _awfully_ close to losing her temper. “My source was very insistent we publish the article first thing this morning, or they’d take it to our competition. They were oddly…” She paused, as if looking for the right word. “Persuasive.”

She gave the two flummoxed women a winning smile.

“Plus, we all know the other media outlets simply wouldn’t do the story justice.”

Kara let out a frustrated scoff.

“You didn’t either, it looks like,” she retorted. “Because you didn’t get all of the facts.”

“Oh,” Andrea gave her a slow smile. “Would you be willing to go on record, Supergirl? With _all_ the facts?”

“No. She wouldn’t.” Alex interjected, giving Kara a warning look before the Super opened her mouth to say something she would almost inevitably regret.

“I only speak to Kara Danvers,” the blonde finally managed to say. “And, unfortunately…” Kara couldn’t help but let sarcasm seep into her voice. “It looks like you gave the article to William.”

Andrea’s eyes narrowed to slits. “Kara was…indisposed of last night if you must know. She was my first call. My first _two calls_ actually,” she enunciated, clearly frustrated. “I still haven’t been able to reach her. As you can see, Kara’s not here this morning either.” The woman waved her hands in the air in a show of befuddlement.

Alex gave the Super a look and Kara could feel herself shrink back into her seat.

_Right. Dead phone + Drunk._

“Kara’s sick,” Alex replied, testily. At the look from Andrea, she continued.

“When I left my sister last night, she was half-delirious.”

Andrea hummed noncommittally. “A fever _would_ do that to you. I do wish she let me know though.”

“Kara’s _sick_?” A voice interjected from behind. All three suddenly found their gaze focused on a sheepish man standing near the entrance.

“Sorry,” William said, rubbing the back of his neck. He gave Supergirl and Alex a smile before directing his attention back towards Andrea. “You said you wanted to speak with me as soon as I got back. Lena wasn’t at L-Corp, and her assistant was pretty cryptic as to where she was.”

At the words, Kara felt a flash of warmth towards Jess, relieved that Lena had found such a good egg after the disaster that was Eve.

“I thought I’d stop by Kara’s since she and Lena are such good friends.”

“Like Alex said, she’s sick.” Supergirl supplied, tersely. “Contagious with a deadly…” she trailed off trying to think of the worst possible illness. “…cold.”

Alex looked at her with such a _what-the-fuck_ expression that Kara had the decency to look embarrassed.

William glanced at her confused. “Right, well I’ll stop by her place. Bring her some soup. Who knows? Maybe that’s where Lena is.”

“Oh you really don’t need to…” Alex started. But before she could finish her sentence, Andrea interjected.

“I think that’s a wise move,” she nodded towards the reporter who gave her a bright smile before taking off. Alex closed her eyes, letting out an almost inaudible sigh of frustration.

 _Shit_.

Kara watched her sister furtively sneak out her phone and begin texting someone (she had a sneaking suspicion it was Winn, telling her to get J’onn over to Kara’s ASAP).

Of course, that meant the Martian would be leaving Lena behind. Kara clenched her jaw, now vigorously regretting she persuaded her friend not to take Winn as backup instead.

“All of that,” she said loudly, directing Andrea’s attention back to the Super and away from Alex’s thinly-veiled attempts to mitigate damage. “Really doesn’t explain how you published the article with no real proof. One photo is really not evidence of the relationship your byline was so quick to label.” Kara was surprised that the last line came out sounding particularly bitter, and her sister fixed the superhero with a curious look, apparently having taken care of the unfortunate situation with William.

“Who said there was _one_ photo?”

Kara could barely fathom the turn of events.

“ _Excuse_ me?” Alex asked, as her attention snapped back to the women smugly sitting behind the desk.

Slowly, Andrea opened a manilla photo on the desk, picking up a small stack of images.

She dropped the first one – the compromising picture of Supergirl’s arms around the waist of a Luthor in her lap, hair buried in the Luthor’s shoulder.

Even though it wasn’t the first (or the _third_ for that matter) look at the photo, Kara still felt her cheeks begin to heat up.

Andrea dropped the next one – Lena had turned around and was hugging Kara, the latter of which had her hands around the shorter woman’s neck.

Kara coughed, awkwardly. “I don’t see how this is any different than the –” the words died in her throat as Andrea calmly dropped the last photo onto the desk. If Kara’s cheeks were hot before, they were practically on fire now.

Kara heard her sister swear in surprise, but the hero’s attention was riveted on the image in front of her.

This one had Lena turned around but still quite obviously on Kara’s lap. The Super’s arms were now just loosely around Lena’s waist, but one of latter’s hands was obviously holding Kara’s face.

From this angle it obviously looked like the two of them were…

_Oh Rao._

Kara covered her mouth in horror, physically preventing herself from accidentally saying anything.

“I’m sure you appreciate us having the decency to not run this one,” Andrea said brightly, calmly surveying the two in front of her. "And just so you know," the CatCo head offered a smile which didn't quite reach her eyes. "There are _more_ photos of your relationship, just none quite as damning as these three." She gave Supergirl a sly look. "Particularly this one," she noted, tapping on the photo in question.

Alex, to her credit, rapidly recovered and yanked Kara to her feet.

“ _Thank you_ ,” the Director gritted out. “for not publishing that photo. I’m sure Lena and Supergirl…” The scalding look she gave the hero was all but lost as Kara couldn’t do anything but vapidly gaze at the photo in disbelief. “…appreciate the _continued_ discretion.”

Andrea nodded, eyes amused. “Perhaps you would re-consider that interview, Supergirl.”

“She’ll think about it,” came the terse reply before Alex all but dragged Kara out of the office.

It wasn’t until they were back on the elevator that Kara snapped out of her stupor.

“I can’t _believe_ the audacity of Mxy,” the Super spit out, furious. “I’m going to strangle that –"

“ _Mxy_?” The Director all but hissed. “I cannot believe you didn’t give me the whole story Kara. It’s your fault we walked into that complete _fucking_ disaster.”

Kara blanched, taking a step back. “That photo…”

“I have never been so completely _blindsided_ in –”

“Alex, I know what it looked like…”

“Looked _like_ ,” Alex threw her hands up in fury. “ _Looked like_. Kara, you two are _all over each other. Just friends_ don't hold each other like that unless you're telling me Mxy manipulated that picture?”

Kara flushed, unable to deny that the event actually happened even if it wasn’t exactly in the way that photo implied.

“I swear, we were just talking Alex. There were some things that needed to be said last night, and after we had been drinking…”

“ _You don’t get drunk Kara._ ”

Kara licked her lips, nervously. “It was Aldebaran rum. Well, I was drinking the rum. She was drinking scotch.”

The DEO Director’s brow furrowed in confusion. “She gave you…” Alex massaged her forehead. “So this is all Luthor’s fault?" Kara winced as she heard her sister switch back to Lena's surname. "I should have known.”

Kara shot her a look. “It’s not her fault, she tried to keep me to just one glass.”

“Drunk or not, I don’t recall you getting nearly that handsy when you were with Mon-El.”

“That was _different_.”

Alex shot her a look. “You mean you were attracted to one and not the other? If I didn’t know your dating history, I’d be conflating which one was which.”

Kara flushed brightly.

“I’m not attracted – I mean, Lena _is_ a very attractive woman but if – “ Kara floundered for a moment.

“If I _liked her like that_ , you would be the first one I told.”

At the disbelief still written all over Alex’s face, Kara closed her eyes. “And even if you don’t believe me,” she ignored the small noise of agreement from her sister. “I’m sure you’d believe that there’s no way I’d pursue something that would jeopardize Lena’s presence in my life after I just got her back.”

At the confession, Alex’s face softened.

“Kara…”

The superhero was saved from responding as the elevator finally opened. As Kara strode abruptly out into the lobby and then shortly into the city, she called out behind her,

“And for the record, in case I wasn't clear, I _just_ see her as a friend.”

Kara chose to ignore the woman’s muted muttering behind her.

_If Kelly saw me acting with a friend like that, she’d kick my ass to the curb._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i can't believe we've been going at a chapter a day for this long given that none of this is pre-written. work will be getting insane this week so the next update being tomorrow is highly questionable (unless i somehow maintain this obsessive writing streak into the wee hours of the morning)


	7. Panic

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> somehow not only is there an update, but it's much (read: slightly) longer than normal

“It should be another fifteen minutes because of the traffic, Ms. Luthor,” John called out from the front seat.

“Understood. Thanks John.”

Lena had an arm against the window, a couple of fingers to her temple, watching as her surroundings passed by in a smooth blur. Her thoughts kept drifting back to her earlier conversation with Mxy, and she found herself getting increasingly more irritated.

 _Bzz_.

Lena looked down at her phone to a notification from Kara. Instantly, her wave of frustration washed away, and the young CEO could feel a smile tug at her lips.

 **Kara:** I hope your day was more successful than ours

Lena shook her head in amusement.

 **Lena:** Define successful.

 **Kara:** I will at mine? :) I have wine

Lena smiled at the audacity.

“John, can you please drive to Kara Danvers’ place instead?”

“Of course Ms. Luthor.”

 **Lena:** Well I don’t have the rum

 **Kara:** Good, your turn to get drunk

Lena rolled her eyes.

 **Lena:** I think I’ll let John take me straight home

 **Kara:** nooo I’m sorry :(

 **Kara:** I'll be good

Lena rolled her eyes at her best friend’s antics.

 **Kara:** please

 **Lena:** I’m kidding, but I do need a change of clothes

 **Kara:** You can borrow some of mine

Lena blinked in surprise. They had never been the type to swap clothes, except for the occasional sweatshirt.

 **Kara** : We have a lot to discuss

There was another buzz.

 **Kara:** don’t leave me on read Lena!

Then another moment later…

 **Kara:** ??? so you’re not coming

 **Lena:** I don’t remember you being this needy

 **Kara:** :(

 **Lena:** I told John to redirect me ten min ago

 **Kara:** yay!! See you in a bit. Will order pizza

 **Lena:** sounds good cat-girl

Lena smiled as she watched the dots appear and disappear as the other woman apparently tried to figure out a response.

 **Kara:** …I thought you forgot

 **Lena:** you’d only be so lucky

* * *

Kara looked up from her phone, huffing. She had spent the last two days being teased halfway to Timbuktu from Lena, Alex, _Winn_ …granted, a lot of it was her own fault. But there was only so much teasing a girl could take before she went nuclear.

Taking a deep breath to calm down, she walked into the kitchen and uncorked a bottle of wine. She poured two generous glasses, a small grin dancing on her face as she imagined Lena’s reaction to the alcohol.

“Oh shit,” she swore, noticing some wine had dripped onto her shirt. She dabbed at it with a spare towel before quickly dashing into her room. She opted to switch out the turtleneck for a striped long-sleeved tee before returning back to the kitchen to try and wash out the stain.

“Today’s just really been that kind of day,” she huffed to no one in particular. Draping the shirt to dry over one of her dining chairs, she collapsed in front of her laptop.

Her google search of the night lay open.

_“An age-by-age guide to bonding with your child.”_

It wasn’t incredibly helpful if the reporter was being honest. Particularly, for this kind of situation. Biting her lip, Kara tried another search.

“ _Activities to bond with your child.”_

She read the top results that came up.

_Try a sport together._

_See a performance._

Kara rolled her eyes, giving up on the search.

“Google is useless.”

Thankfully, a rustling outsider her door instantly brightened up her mood.

She had the door open before Lena could knock twice. It took a half-second before the smile dropped from superhero’s face as she stared at Lena in horror.

 _“Lena, what the hell,_ ” she hissed in worry, pulling the woman in abruptly. Before the Luthor could get in a word edgewise, the reporter was patting her friend down and looking for a source of the red stains that had bloomed on the front of what had originally been a snow-white dress-shirt.

“Kara…” Lena started, trying to get her friend’s attention. The superhero had crouched down to get a better angle and her glowing eyes were razored in on the front of her blouse (to Lena’s intense embarrassment). The Super's nimble hands started to explore Lena's torso, gently prodding and shifting.

Finally, the CEO couldn’t take it anymore and she abruptly grabbed one of Kara’s roaming hands.

“ _Kara_ ,” Lena hissed, red blotches on her cheeks a stark contrast to her otherwise pale demeanor.

“Lena, I can’t find the injury, why can’t I find the injury?” Kara rambled, looking up at Lena with abject fear in her eyes as the light quickly dimmed. “Even a quick x-ray didn’t show any signs of exterior damage…”

Lena flushed at the implications. “Did you just _undress me with –_ ” Lena cut herself off. Now wasn’t the time. “It’s not _mine_ Kara, let alone _human_ ; someone threw animal blood at me.”

“But your heartbeat was getting increasingly irregular, are you sure you’re not…oh…” Kara trailed off, as the situation started to take hold.

The superhero glanced down and realized one of her hands was still very much flattened against the toned stomach of her friend, and she jerked her hand away as if it had been burned.

“Sorry…” she trailed off, a light blush dusting her cheeks as she struggled to keep her voice even. “I didn’t mean to…”

For her part, Lena was struggling to remember how she normally acted. “Uh, could you just….” She gestured to her ruined attire, and Kara immediately got the memo.

“Shirt. Yes. I can do that,” Kara said, disappearing momentarily only to return with a comfortable gray sweatshirt.

“Thanks, I’ll just go…” Lena trailed off, waving her hand towards the direction of the restroom. “Though, given your earlier scan, I suppose it’s nothing you haven’t seen.” Kara flushing bright red, nodded vehemently towards the corridor. Her friend disappeared around the corner shortly after.

“Kara, you absolute moron,” she huffed under her breath. “What’s going on with you?”

Her mind flashed back to earlier in the day; at Alex implying that she was attracted to Lena.

Kara found she couldn’t look at her friend without having flashbacks to that conversation. Lena _was_ extremely attractive as her completely innocuous but overly invasive search had just doubly-confirmed. And now, the superhero was starting to act increasingly flustered, almost like…

Kara groaned, banging a fist against her head.

_Why did Alex have to say that._

“You okay there, Supergirl?” a voiced teased out. Kara paused her internal beratement to look up at her friend standing off into the distance. Kara found herself smiling back at Lena, who looked adorable in a sweatshirt that was slightly too big for her.

_Who was using Kara’s sweatshirt as….a shirt…._

Lena’s smile faltered slightly. “Kara?”

“Hm?” Kara suddenly shook herself out of her reverie, realizing she was staring. “Sorry, I—”

“I was just saying that I hope you didn’t mind, but I rinsed my shirt off in your tub. Not that it did any good, it’s still ruined.” The Luthor fixing her with a curious look. “Was starting to wonder if you had given yourself permanent brain damage there, when I lost you for a moment.” the Luthor joked.

Kara laughed loudly (read: awkwardly) and tried to smooth it over (read: failed spectacularly).

“No, no, woman of steel and all that,” Kara thumped her chest two times for good measure. Then she closed her eyes, cringing as she realized that Lena was being sarcastic.

“You know, I think that’s the pizza guy. Be right back.”

Then, without another glance, she used superspeed to sprint out the door.

Lena watched the woman go, confusion marring her otherwise pleasant features.

“Well, that was weird,” she breathed to no one in particular.

A moment later, Kara reappeared holding an extra-large Stilton pizza.

“Sorry…” the reporter trailed off, giving her friend a shrug. “I know I’m being weird.”

Lena licked her lips before responding, embarrassed. “I sometimes forget _exactly_ how good your hearing is.”

Kara chuckled, the remark finally breaking the awkwardness between them. “Join the club. Everyone else does too, I’m used to it.”

Lena offered Kara a small smile as a peace offering. “Ham and pineapple?”

Kara looked at her in mock affront. “How could it be anything else?”

Lena laughed easily as she walked into the kitchen to grab a couple of plates and the wine glasses sitting on the island. Kara trekked into the kitchen behind her, noting with relief that while her thoughts might be running rampant, Kara could more or less keep them in-line. Well, at least in-line enough to function.

“It looks like you had a wardrobe malfunction as well?” Her friend raised an eyebrow, nodding towards the sweater draped over one of the chairs. Kara placed the pizza on the table.

“Not nearly as bad as yours though,” Kara remarked with a small tilt of the head. “Which reminds me that you didn’t actually tell me what happened.”

Lena crinkled her eyes in amusement.

“You didn’t exactly give me a chance. The moment I opened the door, you practically assaulted me.”

Kara immediately went bright red. The Super was starting to wonder if _wildly blushing_ was her new permanent state. Perhaps ‘strawberry’ should be added to her growing list of unfortunate nicknames.

“In my defense, you showed up covered in _blood_ ,” Kara weakly retorted, grabbing one of the glasses of wine from Lena’s hands and taking a large gulp.

“ _Animal_ blood,” Lena corrected, as she took a seat. Kara followed suit. “And I thought human alcohol doesn’t do anything for you.”

“It doesn’t, but I got so used to pretending that it now has a strangely therapeutic effect.”

The CEO let out a small noise of surprise.

“So how did you get animal blood on you?”

“A man dumped it on me.” Lena gave Kara a pointed look. “I’m just grateful he aimed for my shirt. It would have been horrible to wash out of my hair.”

Kara huffed. “You said that. Why. How. _When_.”

Lena sighed. “It was after I was walking back from visiting with Mxy and Lily. He stopped me in the lobby of the hospital.”

Kara found herself tensing up but held herself back from interrupting.

“He said something along the lines of – _‘people that date aliens are no longer human and should be slaughtered like the animals they are’_. And the rest….” Lena flicked her hand into the air.

“Lena, that’s horrible.” Kara reached across the table to gently squeeze her friends hand before letting go. “I am _so_ , so sorry….” The Super trailed off as a thought struck her.

“How…do you know it’s animal blood?” Kara almost hated to ask the question.

“I wouldn’t have known without testing it. But he said as much. _‘Next time, it won’t be animal blood that's all over you.'’_ ”

If looks could kill, none would be safe from Kara’s smite.

“I wish you called,” she gritted out, furious at a man she never met.

Lena scoffed.

“And say what, exactly? Someone threw blood on me? Supergirl, please teach them a lesson?”

“I – “ Kara stuttered, not sure of how to respond. “I could have done _something_. Lena, next time they might not be just satisfied by ruining a shirt. He _literally_ said as much.”

Lena’s eyes softened at the worried look Kara was giving her.

“I get it. I might have been a tad...capricious...about the situation. If Kara Danvers is opting to _talk_ instead of _eat_ then how can I not listen.”

Kara ran a hand through her hair, relieved that the other woman was finally starting to take this seriously. Her stomach let out a loud grumble at Lena’s reminder.

“I’m eating, I’m eating,” she said, throwing open the pizza box and grabbing a couple of slices. Lena laughed, picking up one of her own.

A few minutes passed in comfortable silence before Lena posed a new question.

“Can I ask you something?”

Kara looked at her friend, blinking. “Uh-oh, the last time you asked me that…”

Lena chuckled, shaking her head. “We don’t have to talk about it.”

Kara shook her head vigorously. “No, no. Ask whatever you want. I’m an open book,” she beamed across the table before furrowing her brow. “I’m probably going to regret that, huh?”

Laughing lightly, Lena responded, “No, it’s nothing bad. I was just wondering…”

Kara nodded, motioning for the other woman to go on.

“You never seemed _thi_ s concerned before…did something happen?” she asked, surveying Kara with close scrutiny.

The reporter paused, sitting back in her chair, thinking about how to word it.

“Remember how I told you Mxy sent me back in time? And all those times ended badly?”

Lena nodded, almost imperceptibly.

“Well badly meant you either got hurt, kidnapped, or killed. Well, except for the last one where I died instead.” Kara added as an afterthought.

Lena put her glass down, surveying the other woman with a curious look.

“And I just…I couldn’t live through watching you get hurt Lena. Or worse. I already imagine the moment someone I love gets killed because of Supergirl. Every _single_ time I wake up. And I just…” she trailed off, looking away as her eyes started to water.

“I saw you _die_ , Lena. Because I couldn’t protect you.”

 _I can’t imagine a world without you in it._ The words froze on the tip of her tongue as she found herself unable to actually say the words out loud. 

“I didn’t know Kara,” Lena softly responded. “I’m sorry.”

Kara chuckled, briefly tipping up her glasses to rub at her eyes. “No, how could you,” her voice wavered. “When I never told you.”

Lena took a sip of wine, appearing to be deep in thought.

“I won’t be able to always have someone with me Kara,” she finally said. “It’s just not possible.”

Kara let out a breath, wringing her hands. “I know Lena, and I wouldn’t ask you to.”

“But,” the Luthor continued, giving her friend a long, unreadable stare. “I _can_ be a little more careful. I’m well-aware I’m a little more vulnerable than the others.”

Kara gave Lena a shaky smile before raising her glass in appreciation.

“Thanks Lena. Now…” she trailed off, clearing her throat as she attempted a very not-subtle change in conversation. “Tell me what you found out from Mxy?”

Lena slowly nodded, choosing her words carefully.

“Mxy’s the one who saved Lily from the lab, Kara.” Kara’s eyes shot up, and she stared at Lena in shock.

“What?”

“He’s the one that dropped her off at the hospital…when we took her in as our charge. She was so sick at first…and she couldn’t speak. It took us awhile to realize exactly why and what we needed to do.” Lena took a sip of wine. “Fun fact, the hospital staff were the ones that named her Lily.”

Kara frowned, but let Lena continue on uninterrupted.

“Mxy visited every few weeks, catching her up on the real world. And that child absorbed information faster than any human should have been able to…” she trailed off, fixing Kara with a wry grin. “But I suppose she _is_ half-Kryptonian.”

“Also your daughter,” Kara couldn’t help but interject, referencing the young CEO’s genius-level intellect.

Lena scoffed lightly, shaking her head, but didn’t challenge the implications of the remark.

“Mxy’s also the reason she knew about…well, things she shouldn’t have known about.” Lena abruptly finished, not wanting to bring up certain conversations. “Lily asked about her parents frequently, so Mxy showed her videos of us.”

“And that’s why she thinks we’re together,” Kara breathed out, in realization.

Lena sighed. “Not exactly.”

Kara looked at her in confusion.

“Kara…” Lena trailed off, not knowing exactly how to break the news. “Lily is weak. Weaker than most kids her age, because her immune system is still in its infantile stages. It’s been a few months, so it’s had time to build up a little but…”

“But it’s not strong enough…” Kara whispered in growing horror.

“It’s strong enough for the surgery, but only under the best circumstances. And Mxy has run several scenarios through that TV of his.”

Kara blinked at her.

“What are you saying, Lena?”

“Kara, the only situation he’s seen where the surgery is successful is one where she has a strong tie to this world. Particularly…”

“If she has a family to come back to.”

Lena nodded. “That’s right.” The woman took a long drink of wine as an uncomfortable silence settled overhead. “So he might have purposely framed the videos to look a little more romantic in nature than they otherwise were.”

“I don’t want to lie to our daughter, Lena,” Kara finally whispered. “My own big fat lie nearly destroyed our friendship. I swore I was done building relationships on something that wasn’t true.”

Lena blinked, her eyes clouding suddenly.

“What choice do we have? Even if she hates us, at least she’d be alive. And it doesn’t have to be a complete lie,” Lena continued, defiantly. “We can still make sure she has a place to come back to.”

“But it wouldn’t be with us as a family.”

And unfortunately, Lena didn’t have a response to that. The Luthor finally gave an awkward jerk of her head in acquiescence to the problem before taking another sip from her glass.

“What I don’t understand,” Kara said after a long silence. “is why Mxy is going through any of this.”

“You don’t know?” The Super hesitated in her response, hearing the sudden tension in Lena’s voice.

“Don’t know what?”

“I can’t believe this…” Lena muttered. “He told me you knew.”

Kara shook her head in confusion, eyes baffled. “Knew _what_ , Lena?”

“Kara, the imp proposed to you.”

The Super scoffed, looked at Lena incredulously. “That was _years_ ago Lena…you can’t be…”

“He’s still in love with you,” Lena deadpanned. “He’s doing this for you.”

And Lena, for her part, couldn’t for the life of her figure out why her heart suddenly felt so heavy.

* * *

The rest of the evening more or less flew by in a blur. And as the hours passed, so did the number of drinks she consumed. Lena grew increasingly quiet, until she found herself rather vacantly sitting on the couch.

Noting the time, Kara walked over to her windows and closed the blinds before joining her friend on the couch.

She doubted the imp would try anything again (especially this soon), but she didn’t want to take any chances.

Kara watched the other woman silently, unsure of what to say. Even as she attempted to focus on the most important thing (Lena’s mental wellbeing), her mind couldn’t help but wander back to the thought-of-the-hour.

_Attractiveness._

Even drunk, hair disheveled, and sullen… Lena must have been the most beautiful woman that Kara had ever seen.

“Kara.”

Kara bit her lip out of guilt, snapping out of stupor. _Shit, had Lena noticed?_

“Yeah?”

“Wait until after the surgery.”

Kara blinked, feeling like she had missed something.

“Sorry?”

There was a moment of silence.

“To date Mxy.”

“ _Are you insane,”_ Kara spluttered, backing up from her friend like she’d seen a ghost.

Lena turned to look at her, emerald eyes cool and unreadable. “It’s logical Kara. Objectively, he’s handsome and completely devoted. He saved your daughter for you Kara.”

The look on Kara’s face could only be described as horrified.

“So that means I should date him? Just because he’s in love with me and is a good guy…well…imp?”

Lena didn’t respond instantly.

“Why not? It makes sense,” she said slowly, giving the Super an indecipherable look before smiling. “I’m happy for you actually.”

Those words felt like a stab to the heart, and Kara blinked trying to process the emotion.

“I’m just…worried…it might jeopardize Lily if you acted too soon.”

Kara swallowed thickly, unsure of what was going on with either of them.

“Lena, look at me…” she grabbed her friend’s arm, forcing the woman to turn and meet her gaze.

“As great of a guy as Mxy is proving to be, I can’t help who I’m attracted to.”

Kara winced at her choice of words. Worst possible time to be talking about attraction when she was gazing at a friend who was pulling her in with the force of a tornado.

“But…” Kara interjected, intercepting the Luthor as the CEO had indubitably been opening her mouth to protest.

“Even if I was, I would wait until after the surgery.”

That seemed to satisfy her tipsy friend, and Lena closed her mouth with a nod in the affirmative.

“Good.”

Kara let out a breath, still feeling sick. She turned away, fiddling with her watch.

“So why’d she do it?”

Kara frowned, startled by the non-sequitur.

“What?”

“Andrea. You never said what you and Alex found out.”

Kara could feel the flush start to creep up her neck as she started to relive the memories.

“Yeah well…” she sighed, loudly. “What Mxy did in those videos, he did in the photos.”

Kara could practically hear the other woman thinking. Even drunk, her mind processed faster than most.

“ _Photos_. As in plural.”

Kara nodded stiffly. “Yep. That combined with the threat of her competitors having the details of such a scoop…”

“Well that was anti-climactic,” Lena breathed, putting her glass down.

Kara shrugged. “I don’t know what we were expecting, to be honest.”

“You mean because Mxy can’t manipulate thoughts, so it would have had to be something along those lines.”

Kara’s hands stilled their nervous fiddling in surprise. “Yeah. He told you?”

The corners of Lena’s lips quirked upwards as she shook her head. “No, but if he had that ability, you’d have been dating him a long time ago.”

Kara grimaced. “Ugh, don’t joke.”

“I still can’t believe everything he did for you.”

The line stirred up a memory for Kara.

“Can I ask you something?” Lena looked at the woman, eyes starting to grow heavy with sleep.

“Hm?”

“We spoke about my reactions and revelations when we met Lily…but we never spoke about yours.”

The line seemed to unsettle Lena, as she blinked rapidly to process the statement.

“What do you want to know?” she said finally, looking significantly more sober than she had five minutes ago.

“What was Lily talking about? With the Kryptonite?”

“Oh…” Lena frowned, shaking her head. “It was during the Worldwide Unity Festival.”

Kara’s eyebrows shot up.

 _Oh_.

“Someone came in wanting to kill you with a knife made out of kryptonite.” Lena chuckled.

“I told her over my dead body.” Lena paused, pursing her lips. “Well, not in so many words, but the gist was there.”

If there was a look for – _you can’t be fucking serious_ \--, it’d be plastered all over Kara’s face.

“She thought about it. Decided it wasn’t worth it. Then left.” Lena shrugged.

“Not that interesting of a story.”

Kara had a sneaking suspicion Lena was downplaying the event, even drunk. “So she just left, when forced with the option to kill you to get to me.”

Lena nodded slowly. “Yep.”

“Was it your mother?”

Lena blinked. “ _No_. She doesn’t want you dead. At least, not right now anyways.”

Kara gave a grunt in acknowledgement.

“Plus, she probably would have done it,” Lena added as an afterthought.

“L- _Lena_ ,” Kara stuttered, aghast. The woman in question fixed Kara with an amused look.

“It’s okay, Kara.” She leaned over towards her friend, bopping her on the nose with a single finger.

Kara’s breath hitched.

Lena was so close that Kara could feel her breath. Pools of emerald threatened to overwhelm Kara and drown her.

_How could someone be so…_

“I’ve told you Kara. You’re all the family I need. I couldn’t be happier that it’s you….with Lily….” With that, Lena succumbed to the heavy wave of sleep she’d been fighting off. Kara found herself with one rather inebriated Luthor sleeping lightly on her chest.

Kara’s heart thrummed painfully.

_Oh Rao._

* * *

Alex walked out of the shower to the sound of loud knocking at her front door.

“What the hell?” she muttered, grabbing a gun from her dresser before slowly moving towards the entrance.

“Alex, it’s me, open up.” A loud voice called from the other side.

Frowning, Alex put the gun down before opening the door to a very disheveled looking Kara.

“Alex, we need to talk,” Kara said, storming in.

“Kara it’s _11_ at night, couldn’t this wait until the morning?” The Director gestured to her appearance. “I was just about to go to bed.”

Kara gaped at her. “Oh Rao, did I wake Kelly?”

Alex shook her head. “No…no, she’s visiting her mom. She’s not here right now.”

“Oh good, that’s a relief.” Alex noted dryly that her sister didn’t look relieved at all. The Superhero had picked up one of Alex’s knickknacks and was nervously fiddling around with it.

“What’s going on Kara.”

Kara started pacing. “Alex…you, you…”

Alex narrowed her eyes, slightly concerned.

“This is all your fault Alex; you’ve got to help me fix this.”

“ _Excuse_ me?”

Kara had put down the object and was now back to nervously wringing her hands.

“It’s got to stop, Alex.”

“Wha – Kara, slow down. You’re going to burn a hole in my floor.”

Kara whirled around to stare at her.

“But _Alex…_ ”

Alex grabbed Kara’s arms and held her gaze.

“ _Breathe_ , Kara.”

After a few seconds, Kara visibly calmed down. The Director found herself wondering what could have possibly riled the superhero up so much.

She redirected Kara towards the couch.

“Is this about Lily?”

Kara’s head bowed, and she shook her head mutely.

“Okay…” she drawled, a little lost.

“Did Mxy do something else?”

Another shake of the head.

So that only left…

“Is it Lena?”

Kara buried her face in her hands.

“What am I going to do, Alex?” came the muffled reply.

“Do…you want to talk about it?” Alex said hesitantly. “Did Lena do something again?”

Kara looked up, sharply. The Director noted that her sister’s complexion was far paler than normal.

“No. She’s done nothing besides be a good, wonderful and amazing human being.”

Alex’s brow furrowed in confusion.

“Okay…”

“It’s just that…ever since you implied I found Lena…” Alex blinked. _Oh._

“It’s all I can _see_ now Alex.” Unable to contain herself, the superhero got back up and started pacing.

“Hell, I _literally molested_ her when she got to my apartment.”

_“You what?”_

“And every time she’s talking, I can barely concentrate. All I think about is how _perfect_ she is.” She threw a hand to emphasize the point. “How _attractive_ she is. With her gorgeous green eyes, her sumptuous lips, her perfect --”

“Jesus Christ, Kara, I get it. I don’t need the blow-by-blow.”

”Rao, _make it stop Alex_.”

Breathing deeply from the rant, Kara finally sat back down.

“Hey…come here.” Alex murmured, gathering her sister up in a hug. She held her for a while, sighing as she heard a couple of sniffles.

“Hey…” Alex straightened up, holding her sister at arm’s length. She noted with dismay that there were tears in Kara’s eyes.

“So you have a crush on a girl.” Alex said slowly, squeezing her sister’s arm to prevent her from looking away again. “It’s not the end of the world, Kara.”

“She’s going to hate me, Alex.”

“Hey – that’s not true. Any idiot could tell that she loves you. How could she not?” Alex gave her a half-smile.

The words didn’t have the intended effect though, and Kara’s expression fell.

“She loves me _without_ this attraction, Alex. This _thing_ will ruin everything.”

Alex licked her lips, considering her next words carefully.

“Have you thought about talking to Lena about all of this?”

Kara jerked away, pinching the bridge of her nose.

“Now’s really not the best time.”

Alex scoffed. “There’s _never_ a best time Kara.”

“No…I mean,” Kara struggled for the right words. “Lily needs to believe Lena and I are together. Or she’ll die during the surgery.”

Alex blinked slowly. She felt there was a lot of information missing there, but now was really not the time to probe the dejected Super.

“What? Is that why…”

Kara nodded. 

“If I spill all of this on Lena and it goes sour…” The Super took a deep breath.

“I’d never forgive myself if Lily died because of me.”

The reality of the situation finally started to dawn on Alex. “I understand. I’m sorry, Kara.”

She watched her sister nod her head rapidly before burying herself in the crook of Alex’s shoulders.

“We’ll figure this out,” Alex promised. After a minute, a sly thought came to mind.

"You know the bright side to all of this?" 

Alex heard her sister grunt. 

"I completely 100% believe that those photos were rigged." 

Kara gave a strangled laugh, and she sat up rubbing at her eyes.

“I better go. I don’t want Lena to wake up in the middle of the night, wondering where I am.”

Alex frowned. “She’s at your apartment right now?”

Kara closed her eyes, sighing. “I might have plied her with a bit too much wine tonight.”

Alex paled.

“ _Kara_. _Did you learn nothing?!"_

The Director closed her eyes, attempting to massage away the beginnings of a headache.

"I better not wake up tomorrow to another _ridiculous_ headline."

Silence greeted her, and Alex found herself opening her eyes again.

Kara was gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> finally. one of them has a revelation.
> 
> this is actually much faster of a realization than i had intended....but i like for stories to evolve organically. and given what had happened the prior chapters...it just felt like the right moment for Kara.


	8. The Art Of

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oof i'm sorry on the delay...work got insane. I will be trying for (at least) weekly updates after this, but no promises :c

Lena woke to the sound of crackling and the smell of bacon. As she opened her eyes, she was temporarily blinded from the sunlight brightening the room. She sat up, blearily rubbing her eyes as she tried to adjust to initially unfamiliar surroundings.

“Where…” She trailed off tiredly as she tried to get her bearings.

Suddenly the memories from last night came crashing in.

_“I couldn’t be happier that it’s you…with Lily…”_

She closed her eyes, letting out a low breath as she felt herself cringe. Oh god, could she _be_ more embarrassing.

_Falling asleep on Kara?_

Stifling a groan, Lena got up stiffly from the bed. She looked out a window, squinting against the bright light — it had to be mid-morning; she had slept what…at least 8 hours? She couldn’t remember the last time that happened. And she had slept well -– two days in a row? That was completely unheard of.

Taking a deep breath, Lena smoothed out her clothes before silently padding into the kitchen.

The sight before her almost made her forget about her mortification.

Kara was bouncing around the kitchen with pans and glasses, seemingly lost in thought. The blonde had her hair up, glasses off and was wearing a bright yellow apron.

It was so…normal. So carefree.

And yet… she had never seen Kara look like _this_. It was refreshing watching the woman in question work with near reckless abandon, and Lena found herself almost completely taken by the sight. It was a side of Kara – one where she didn’t have to worry about which hat she had on. Kara could just be Kara. Not Supergirl. Not a Pulitzer-winning reporter. Just Kara.

“Hey,” Lena finally called out, reluctantly as she knew the spell would be broken.

Kara glanced up and met Lena’s gaze. Apparently, the magic had really been broken because the blonde froze mid-pour of coffee.

“Kara?” Lena furrowed her brow, walking closer. Kara’s mouth had formed a little ‘o’ shape, and she was staring at Lena blankly. Lena self-consciously ran a hand through her hair in attempt to look a little more put together, briefly wondering if her state of disrepair was the cause of Kara’s shock.

“Lena,” Kara squeaked, recovering. “You’re awake.” She hurriedly righted the pour-over kettle before the glass started to overflow. Dusting her hands off on her apron, Kara beamed at Lena.

“Yeah…” the Luthor trailed off, unsure of what to make of Kara’s behavior. Lena opened her mouth to question the situation but immediately became distracted by the plate Kara quickly put in front of her. _Probably the point_ , a small voice in the back of Lena’s head whispered.

She ignored it.

“Did you actually _cook_?” Lena looked up at the blonde in shock, who was wearing a smile that stretched ear to ear.

Kara hummed non-committally, head bobbling slightly in excitement.

“Define _cook_.”

Lena felt a genuine laugh bubble up through her stomach, and she gave Kara a fond chuckle.

“Okay so I may have stopped by this cute little diner for the food,” the superhero commented at the Luthor’s skeptical look, grabbing her own plate and standing in front of her friend. “But the bacon and coffee are 100% me.” Kara looked at Lena and nodded. “Try it.”

Still smiling, Lena picked up a piece of bacon and bit into it. She immediately moaned when the perfectly crisp texture began to melt in her mouth.

“Kara, _marry me_ ,” she practically groaned, immediately taking another bite of the strip. “This is amazing.”

Lena’s eyes fluttered open when she didn’t hear a response.

“Kara?” She waved her hand in front of the reporter whose eyes seemed to have glazed over for the second time that morning.

Putting down the bacon, Lena observed the superhero carefully. Based on the recovery times the last few days, Lena expected that Kara would come back to the land of the living in…

_Three…_

_Two…_

_One…_

Kara seemed to come around to her senses.

“I’m sure Lily would be happy if I said yes,” Kara chuckled. Lena couldn’t be sure, but the Super’s checks seemed to be pinker than normal.

Lena’s brows knitted together as concern flitted across her face.

“You’ve been doing that a lot lately.”

Kara shook her head with feigned ignorance, procrastinating a response by stuffing her mouth with food.

“Doing what?” she questioned, after she swallowed thickly.

“Leaving.” Lena said quietly, fixing a penetrating gaze on the blonde that dared her to feign ignorance.

But Kara was nothing if not daring on the precipice of cowardice.

“I’m right here, Lena. I’m not going anywhere.” Kara shifted uncomfortably on her feet. Lena could tell the other woman was less than forthcoming and decided to press the matter much like a dog might hunt a bone.

“Where do you go?” Lena asked, taking another (much quieter) bite of the bacon.

Kara opened her mouth to respond but seemed to reconsider her words at Lena’s penetrating look.

“Sometimes…I forget this is real.”

Lena frowned but busied herself by taking a drink of coffee, letting her friend continue.

“And I wonder if I’m going to screw this all up.”

The blonde had taken to biting her lip and looking away.

“Kara,” Lena let out a breathy laugh, reaching across the counter to grab her friend’s arm. “You could _never_. I mean, we have a daughter together now. I’m stuck with you, like it or not.”

Kara’s eyes widened and she refused to meet Lena’s gaze. “Yep,” she said shortly.

The word came out sounding oddly high-pitched, but Lena decided to finally let the matter drop. There was probably a little more to the story than Kara was letting on, but it was clear that she wasn’t going to get anything else out of Kara. At least, not at this moment.

But that didn’t mean she wasn’t going to try and break the awkwardness.

“I’m sorry about last night,” Lena began, deciding to try another tactic. “I distinctly remember practically collapsing on you.”

At this Kara laughed, finally looking up to meet Lena in the eyes. “You literally passed out mid-sentence. It was so sudden that if you hadn’t started snoring, I would have worried about your health.”

Lena felt her cheeks color in mild-embarrassment but her objective had been completed with minor causalities. _What’s a little pride between friends._

“There she is,” Lena said with a half-smile, letting Kara get the dig in about snoring (which she most certainly did _not_ ). The non-sequitur caught Kara by surprise. Her eyes widened, caught, before she ducked her head again. But not before Lena stole a look at the bright red flush of the hero’s cheeks.

 _How cute_. Lena caught herself. She blinked a couple of times. _What?_

“How did you sleep?” Kara started, apparently eager for a change in conversation.

“Well.” Lena mused, putting prior thoughts in a box and filing them _deep_ away. “Though I _will_ say it’s the first time I’ve slept in a half-suit, half-sweatshirt combination.” She laughed, gesturing to her attire.

Kara grimaced. “Sorry, but you were sleeping so peacefully that I didn’t want to wake you up.”

Chuckling, Lena shook her head. “No, I appreciate it. I’m just sorry for your bed – I’d been walking around in those pants all day.”

“It’s fine, the bed’s seen worse.”

Kara paused mid-bite. Lena looked at her, mouth slightly agape, an eyebrow arched.

“Um – that came out sounding….”

“No…nope,” Lena shook her head. “Don’t need to know.” She definitely _did not_ need to hear about her friend’s bedroom antics.

But Kara seemed almost desperate to elaborate.

“But, all I was saying was…”

A distinct buzzing interrupted Kara’s protests. Lena’s attention shifted down to her pocket as she pulled out her phone. She took one look at the caller ID before picking it up.

“Hey sweetie.”

Lena didn’t miss the almost indecipherable look that flitted across Kara’s face. A look that was _curiously similar_ to the one Lena had seen back at the hospital. _But that would be ridiculous._ She gave the Super a small smile even as her brow knitted in confusion.

“Hi Lena!!” came a bright voice.

Kara apparently heard and recognized the voice because her expression immediately morphed into one that was much more bemused.

 _Lily_ , the Super mouthed.

Lena nodded. “What’s up?”

“Is Kara there too?”

“I’m here!” Kara called out, loudly.

“Hi Kara!!”

Lena chuckled into the phone. “Did you call just to say good morning?”

“Mxy said I should invite you two to come over for lunch!” There was a pause. “But he said he couldn’t make it. Something about a council meeting.”

Lena looked over at Kara who mouthed, _Yes_ , while nodding vehemently.

“We’d love to,” Lena said warmly.

“Yay!!”

Lena couldn’t help but smile at the cheer. “I’ll see you at…” she trailed off, looking at Kara who had wiggled a couple of fingers. “…two?”

“Yes that’s absolutely perfect! I’ll see you both there!”

And with that, the overexuberant 9-year old hung up.

“You got her a _phone_?” Kara looked at her, eyebrows raised. “Is this what it’s going to be like, being the daughter of a CEO?” Kara teased, tongue between her teeth in amusement.

Lena opened her mouth a couple of times as she searched for a response. “I know I should have consulted you first, but I…”

“Lena, it’s fine.” Kara laughed. “I trust you. More than you know.”

Unsure of how to respond to the flattering sentiment, Lena moved to start clearing the dishes. If Kara had said that when they first met, Lena would have simply thought it was pleasantries at best. When they had been best friends, Lena would have thought Kara was being facetious. After all, of course Kara trusted her.

Lena blinked. It was funny – that was the first time she thought back to their past relationship and its subsequent implosion without feeling bitter.

_I trust you. More than you know._

Now…their relationship was what? Friends who are co-parents?

And what did Lena take that statement to mean now?

Kara was looking at her warmly and Lena was forced to avert her eyes.

“I’ll take care of the dishes, and you can get changed.”

Somehow…Lena believed the Super…believed that Kara trusted her more than Lena believed; that thought filled her chest with warmth.

So caught up was she in her psychoanalysis that she almost missed the eyeroll from the reporter who lightly tugged the dishes out of her hand. A split second later and both dishes were hanging on the drying rack, spotless.

“ _Kara_.” Lena was forced rudely back to reality by the preposterous sight of a completely clean kitchen. “You can’t use superspeed for everything.”

Kara frowned. “Well why not? It takes me far less time than it would take you.”

Lena found herself practically out of an argument as her mind whirled to find a counterpoint. “You’ll spoil a girl,” she finally responded, laughing.

“Go get changed, Lena.” Kara huffed, pushing the CEO towards her room.

“Into what? My bloodstained shirt? Great way to meet your daughter,” Lena drawled, quirking an eyebrow at Kara who winced.

“I forgot.”

“Clearly.”

“Let me get you something.”

Nodding, Lena let Kara disappear round the corner. Lena cast a cursory gaze around the room, waiting for the Super to return. Her line of sight narrowed in on a suitably sized mountain of cloth tucked away in the corner.

“Kara?” she called out.

“Yeah?” the response was muffled, but she could just make out the words.

“Did you sleep on the couch?”

A moment later, a sheepish Kara Danvers appeared in front of her holding a pair of slacks and a dress shirt. 

“I didn’t want to wake you. The bed’s pretty small.”

“Kara. It’s a _queen_. It’s not like either of us are particularly large people. I would have hardly noticed your presence on a normal day. Let alone one where I’m passed out drunk.”

Kara crossed her arms, defensively.

“You didn’t have a problem taking the _much smaller_ couch a couple of days ago?”

Lena’s not quite sure how to respond to that.

“That was different…” she tapered off.

“Really?”

“Yes,” the CEO responded, adamantly as she appeared to settle on an argument. “Kara, you can’t let people kick you out of your bed _in your own apartment_.”

Kara was silent for a moment, but Lena’s own mind betrayed her. _It’s okay when it’s your own office though._

“But you’re not just people.” Kara mumbled the sentiment so lowly, that Lena almost didn’t hear it. Lena watched the Super tuck a lock of hair behind her ear nervously.

Lena sighed, shaking her head. “You really are too much.”

Kara grinned at her, apparently pleased with her response. “But that’s why you love me,” she sing-songed, ducking out of the way from a lazy swat.

Lena’s lips quirked upwards at the taller woman’s ridiculous antics.

“That’s why I love you.”

Kara froze, and Lena watched the Super grow increasingly more flustered. Lena’s eyes crinkled in amusement. Kara was so shy.

“ _Lena_ ,” the hero whined, picking up a pillow and chucking it. “You’re not supposed to answer that so seriously.”

“Are you just going to perpetually attack me with pillows every time you get embarrassed?” Lena laughed, ducking out of the way of the flying projectile. “There are easier ways to settle this than violence, Supergirl.”

Kara rolled her eyes, picking up another pillow to continue the assault.

“Violence seems to be working quite well.” The Super paused as she cast a quick look around for more ammo.

Lena took the temporary cease fire to grab the clothes out of the Super’s hands. But not before her lips lightly ghosted the Super’s ear.

“I think this is more effective,” she whispered, before sauntering off to the restroom.

As she closed the restroom door, she heard Kara’s strangled voice ring out.

“ _Lena, that’s playing dirty._ ”

Lena laughed. “All’s fair in war, _darling_.”

And this time, she didn’t forget about Kara’s superhuman hearing ability.

* * *

“So was this why you wanted to head over to the hospital for such a late lunch?”

Kara turned to look at the CEO who was standing behind her, arms crossed, and one eyebrow raised. Kara hated it when Lena did that. It was horribly distracting and really not helping with _that_.

“If it’s bad enough for Alex to come in on the weekend. Don’t you think updating her on this business with Mxy can wait for Monday?”

Given _the details_ Lena had shared last night coupled with the Super’s unfortunate infatuation with said best friend, Kara had spent a very sleepless night mulling over the situation.

She came to the very stark revelation that there were three infallible truths:

  1. Lily needed to believe Kara and Lena were in a very intimate relationship
  2. Anytime Kara and Lena were in the room, they’d have to pretend as such
  3. There was no way Kara was going to be able to pretend



And thus, Kara needed Alex.

“We also know Mxy is now harmless for the foreseeable future,” Lena continued, completely oblivious to the inner turmoil Kara was battling. “…as we are both on-board with this pretense.” Lena trailed off, a hint of worry evident in her eyes.

“Actually, I never did confirm that. Not exactly.”

“Confirm what?”

Kara found herself momentarily distracted by Lena’s outfit which was just a _tad_ too big for her, given that it was comprised of _Kara’s clothes_. The CEO was wearing a rolled-up button-up, white blouse…well, mostly buttoned up. Lena had opted to not use _all_ of the buttons and Kara was finding herself sidetracked. Almost as distracted as when she saw Lena this morning, with mussed hair, an oversized sweatshirt and just looking altogether so absolutely…

“…relationship.”

Kara blinked, struggling to catch up with the conversation.

“Sorry, I missed that?”

Apparently that had been the wrong answer, because Lena pursed her lips and appeared to survey Kara carefully.

“Kara,” she said slowly. Lena was wearing an inscrutable expression. “We don’t have to sell this relationship together… Her surgery is Monday. We just have to sell the lie until then.”

“I…” Kara frowned. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, you’re Supergirl after all.” Lena had pulled Kara off to the side and was now speaking in a whisper.

“I can do all of the _selling_ on this, myself. All you have to do is show up at other times during the weekend. Coincidentally, we’d not show up at the same time. I’m busy running a company…you’re busy saving the world.”

Lena gave Kara a half-smile that didn’t seem to reach her eyes. Kara’s frown deepened.

“It’s not unbelievable, Kara.”

Kara bit her lip, unsure of what was happening. “What would be the point of that?”

Lena gave her a look. “You’re uncomfortable with the lie, Kara. You said as much last night.”

“Yes, that’s true. But I never said I wouldn’t help. She’s _my_ daughter too, Lena.” Kara retorted, indignantly. She found herself crossing her arms, defensively, not liking where Lena was going with this.

“Kara, that’s not what I…” Lena sighed, rubbing her forehead. “If we show up together, after that article, Lily’s going to expect…”

Lena trailed off, looking at Kara expectantly.

 _Oh_.

Suddenly it clicked. And Kara should have been ecstatic. Kara couldn’t pretend without colossally screwing everything up, and Lena was giving her an out. _The out._

But somehow Kara’s heart wasn’t aligned with what her brain was screaming.

_Say yes, you moron._

“Absolutely not.”

An emotion flickered across Lena’s face – _was it hurt?_ – but quickly disappeared, and the Luthor’s face was impassive once more.

“I completely understand Kara. I get that it’s too much especially given everything that’s happened between us. Having to pretend you’re in a relationship with a _Luthor_ , particularly one that’s hurt you, is too much for anyone to…”

“Lena, don’t be ridiculous.” Kara grabbed the other woman’s arm as if that might make the Luthor see how absurd she was being.

“Kara let me finish what I was saying…” Lena’s eyes were unreadable, but Kara found herself still desperately searching them for a hint of understanding.

“Lena, I would be _honored_ to be in a relationship with you, fake or otherwise.”

Kara blinked as she felt Lena’s arm warm, and her heart rate speed up.

_What?_

The reporter’s eyes darted to Lena’s face which was now struggling to maintain a mask of indifference. It almost looked like she had managed to actually _fluster_ the CEO which was completely…

“….or otherwise?” came the half-strangled reply. Both of Lena’s eyebrows were now raised as she fixed Kara with an unreadable look.

Kara immediately dropped Lena’s arm as if burned and took a couple of steps back, mouth opened to explain and beg forgiveness.

“Kara relax,” Lena laughed, interrupting Kara before she could start her apology. “I know what you meant,” she said, fixing Kara with a warm smile. “Thank you.”

Kara jerked her head a couple of times in assent, still mortified by her Freudian slip but mollified that Lena had read nothing into it. She turned back around.

“Now that we’ve got that settled,” she murmured walking rapidly towards the doors. “Let’s just talk to Alex, and then we can go to Lily.” _Before I go insane_.

* * *

“Kara.”

Alex watched as the woman in question walked in quickly, gaze averted. Lena followed closely behind, cheeks slightly pink. Alex couldn’t place it, but something about the Luthor’s appearance was…different. Off, somehow.

She nodded towards Lena in acknowledgement, who nodded back in kind.

“Kara, I’ve told you not to fly here out of costume,” she said dryly, fixing her sister with a pointed look.

Kara blanched. “We didn’t _fly_ here, Alex. We took the bus. Besides, even if we had flown here, why couldn’t I have just changed on the way in?”

Alex frowned, casting a quick glance back to Lena whose cheeks had returned to a normal color. _Curious. It's not cold outside._

“The DEO is hardly the place you need to switch back and forth between identities,” Alex retorted, ignoring the indignant huff from the Super as she continued to give Lena an odd look.

“She convinced you to take the bus?”

Lena scoffed, shrugging. “It’s hardly the first time.”

Alex’s eyes widened and she glanced back at Kara.

“What? Lena’s not particularly fond of flying, and it was faster than waiting for John.”

“John…” Alex trailed off, slightly confused.

“My driver,” Lena said simply. “We had a bit too much wine last night, and I stayed over at Kara’s as a result.”

Alex could see Kara’s pleading eyes and the imperceptible shake of her sister’s head. The Director sighed. Obviously, Kara hadn’t told Lena about the Super’s midnight panic attack at Alex’s apartment.

“I’m glad to see you two are getting back to normal.”

The relief on Kara’s face was palpable. It also made Alex want to tease her a little.

“You know, Kara was besides herself when you two had that falling out.”

Alex bit back a smile as she saw the reporter stiffen considerably.

“Of course I was upset. I just lost my best friend,” Kara said, defensively. Alex noted with amusement that her sister was fiddling with her glasses. Lena was also watching Kara with a small smile on her face.

“Oh really?” Lena drawled.

“I can’t tell you how many times I caught her mooning over some picture of the two of you.”

“Alex.”

“God, I don’t think she was even that upset when Mon-El was forced to…”

“ALEX,” Kara said loudly, cutting her off.

Alex rolled her eyes and looked at Kara. The Super’s cheeks were blotched red, and her eyes were watering. Alex felt the smile slip off her face, and she shot Lena a nervous look.

Lena was looking at Kara in concern.

_Shit._

Alex let out a low breath. She’d gone too far. Now Kara looked like she was going to cry, and Lena had noticed.

“Listen, we were only here to update you on what we found out about Mxy.”

Alex was surprised that Kara had managed to keep her voice even.

“But if you’re busy, then we can come back another time.”

The Director ran a hand through her hair. “No, I’m not busy…I’m waiting for the others to get back from a lead they’re chasing down.” She noticed with relief that while Kara was still refusing to meet anyone’s gaze, she seemed to have noticeably calmed down. Lena finally looked away from Kara and caught Alex’s eye.

“We understand what Mxy’s motives are,” Lena said quickly.

“I see,” Alex said slowly. Knowing what she did about Mxy plus what Kara told her last night about Lily, Alex had a pretty educated guess as to what that was.

She also knew, based on one look at Kara’s face, that reason was _not_ the primary driver of Kara’s visit. But _that driver_ was unfortunately fixated on following Kara’s cover-story to a T.

Thankfully, Alex was saved from figuring out how to separate the two by the disgruntled Coulan that came storming into their conversation.

“Alex, this is not working. Are the others back? Their investigation could prove paramount to uncovering the situation with these quark spheres.”

Brainy paused, realizing that Lena and Kara were in the room.

“You two are back so soon?”

“Brainy,” Alex cut off any responses, hoping to re-direct the conversation. “I’m glad you’re here. Lena, would you be able to give Brainy some help in the lab?”

Brainy scowled. “I do not need _help_.” He retorted.

“Did you just not come here saying it wasn’t working?”

“Well yes. But that’s because I need more information.”

“Or another variable,” Lena snuck in, giving him a small smirk.

Brain gave an insufferable sigh. “Historical precedent isn’t an indicator of future success.”

“That means yes,” Alex said, fixing Lena with a pitiful look. “Please help. I’m sure Kara can catch me up to speed on Mxy.”

Alex gave Kara a pointed look, and her sister managed to mumble a few words in the affirmative.

Lena smiled, shaking her head. “Lead the way, Brainy.”

Muttering darkly all the while, Brainy compliantly led Lena out of the room and down the hall.

Satisfied that they were finally alone, Alex gestured to the seat next to her.

“I have a feeling you want to be sitting. You want to tell me what this is really about?”

Kara obliged, silently, still fixing Alex with the kicked puppy dog look from earlier.

So half out of guilt, half out of obligation, Alex listened to the whole sordid story. From Mxy’s initial involvement up to and including Lily’s current survival predicament.

“So that’s what you meant when you said Lily would die.”

Kara nodded, face pale. Alex whistled lowly.

“Look, her surgery is Monday right? Can’t you just keep your appearances with Lena limited? You’re both incredibly busy people. It’s not unfathomable that you both just couldn’t show up at the same time on one weekend. One’s a Superhero; other one’s a CEO.”

Kara gave out a broken laugh.

“Lena suggested that, actually.”

Alex threw up her hands, looking at Kara with poorly concealed confusion.

“So why are you sitting here moping?”

“I can’t believe you compared her to _Mon-El._ ”

Alex flinched at that non-sequitur. “I know, I’m sorry.” She sighed. “I got carried away a little.”

Kara slammed her head down on the desk. “ _A little_? Alex, after what I told you, you went and compared her to my ex-boyfriend?”

”I know! Completely my bad but…” She gave Kara a look. “It’s not like you were mooning after her back then, right? Wasn’t that completely platonic?”

Kara let out a groan, shielding her face from view.

“I…don’t know.”

Alex paused. “Kara…when we spoke last night, you made it sound like a silly crush.”

“I know,” came the muted reply.

“But…”

“It was always Lena, Alex. It didn’t hit me until you mentioned Mon-El.”

 _Ah._ That was a weighted revelation. Hesitantly, Alex placed a hand on her sister’s shoulder.

“I just never realized. I never considered the possibility.” Kara's voice was strained.

Alex winced. The words left unsaid.

_Until you said it._

“Listen, we will figure out how to deal with Lena after Monday’s surgery, okay? For now, just focus on organizing your story and coordinating alternating visits to Lily with Lena.”

“I turned her down.”

Alex blinked. “What? Turned down what?”

Two non-sequiturs in a single conversation was a little much for a Saturday morning with no coffee.

“Lena’s suggestion.”

Alex’s hand dropped from Kara’s shoulder. “Well why the hell would you do that?!”

There was a response from Kara, but it was so muffled from the Super’s newly-cocooned situation in the chair that the Director couldn’t understand it.

Alex groaned loudly. “You’re really not making this easy on yourself, are you?”

“Are you going to just spend the entire time berating me? Alex, I’m counting on you,” Kara whined while somehow managing to bury herself deeper within her arms.

Suddenly a thought struck Alex.

“This isn’t like you, Kara. You’re not one to sulk. So why not make the best of this?”

Kara shook her head. “I’m not following, Alex.”

“Why not try to win her favor?” Alex said bluntly.

There was a distinct amount of spluttering from the chair next to her as Kara finally sat up, looking at Alex with sheer incredulity.

“Are you _insane_?”

Alex bit her lip, giving Kara a wry smile.

“Why not? I don’t see a problem with this.”

“Why n--- ALEX.” Kara said loudly, eyes wide and eyebrows furrowed.

“You want me to _seduce_ my very straight, very best friend under false pretenses when we _already have trust issues_ arising from my big fat lie, and you don’t think there’s a _little bit_ of a problem.”

Despite being able to hold her breath for _far_ longer than normal humans, Kara was red in the face from the long-winded rant.

Alex laughed.

“Well, when you put it like that…”

Kara frowned fiercely, and Alex finally sighed. She leaned in to look Kara seriously in the eye.

“Look, whether or not you like it or not, you’ve got to pretend to be in a relationship. Yes or no?”

Still frowning, Kara nodded. “Yes.”

“You didn’t realize your feelings until someone pointed it out. Hell, you were even dating William a few weeks ago. Yes or no?”

“I was _not_ dating William; it was one date.” Kara retorted. “Why does everyone keep saying we were—”

“Kara,” Alex deadpanned.

“Well aside from him, yes,” she grumbled.

“So you’ve got three days to show a certain Luthor what she’d be missing out on with a relationship with the one and only Supergirl.”

“But…”

“If it goes south, you can just claim it was for Lily. She’d never have to know.”

Kara frowned. That didn’t sit right with her – she had promised Lena… no more secrets.

“No. After Monday, I come clean. I promised her, no more secrets.”

“So you’re going to tell her on Tuesday that you spent the weekend trying to seduce her.”

Kara flushed. “Rao, _no_. I’m just going to explain that I’ve lost control of my feelings and that I don’t want it to affect our friendship. I wouldn’t.”

“Well there’s your answer then. You’re going to spend the weekend seducing a CEO.” Alex was practically chortling at this point.

“Alex, I have not agreed to that. Plus, how the hell am I supposed to _seduce_ someone? You understand you're talking about Lena. One does not simply _sweep Lena Luthor off her feet_.”

“Well you better figure it out.” Alex glanced at the computer clock. “Didn’t you say your lunch date with Lily was at 2?”

Kara whirled around to look at the clock.

“You’ve only got a couple of hours to figure out the art of the seduction. You better get moving.”

“But Lena…”

Alex gestured off to the distance. “I’ll handle Lena. She and Brainy will be tied up with that little kerfuffle for a while.”

Finally, Kara fixed Alex with a smile. The first smile Alex had seen on her sister in a couple of days, if she was being honest.

“You’re the best, Alex. But this doesn't mean I'm going to try it.” Alex was taken aback by a brief hug before her sister completely disappeared.

She sighed.

“God, I _hate_ when you do that.”

Despite the situation, Alex smiled to herself.

_Her baby sister was going to seduce a CEO. Who would have thought?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> fun fact, i don't actually eat meat. so i had to google the description of bacon. apologies if i didnt do it justice c:


End file.
